Biology Seminar Series: Patricia Wittkopp

By: TAMU Biology

biology seminar series patricia wittkopp The Department of Biology is pleased to announce that Dr. Patricia Wittkopp will be the guest speaker at the final seminar of the Spring 2025 Seminar Series. The event will take place on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, at 4:00 PM in BSBE 115. Dr. Mahul Chakraborty will host the seminar.

Dr. Wittkopp is the Deborah E. Goldberg Distinguished University Professor and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan, where she holds positions in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. She is also a member of the Center for Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics. Her research focuses on the genetic basis of phenotypic evolution, with a particular emphasis on the evolution of gene expression.

Dr. Wittkopp received her BS from the University of Michigan, her PhD from the University of Wisconsin, and completed postdoctoral work at Cornell University. Since joining the University of Michigan faculty in 2005, she has been recognized as an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, and Fellow of the AAAS. She currently serves as the Associate Dean for Natural Sciences in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan.

The title of Dr. Wittkopp’s seminar is “Molecular and Evolutionary Processes Generating Variation in Gene Expression.” Her talk will explore the widespread genetic variation affecting gene expression within and among species, highlighting the roles of mutation and selection. Dr. Wittkopp’s comparative studies in fruit flies, yeast, plants, and mice have revealed how cis- and trans-acting variants contribute to expression differences over evolutionary time. Her research on the TDH3 gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae has uncovered differences in frequency, effects, and dominance between cis- and trans-regulatory mutations, as well as their evolutionary fate influenced by pleiotropy and environmental changes.

Join us for this insightful seminar to learn more about Dr. Wittkopp’s groundbreaking research and its implications for understanding genetic variation and evolution.

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