Host: Barbara Mellone

Join us at 3:15 in the BPB lobby for refreshments, Seminar begins at 3:30

The impact of genetic cheating on reproduction and speciation

Summary: Dr. Akera will talk about two unpublished stories that reveal both the cell biological basis and evolutionary consequences of meiotic drive, where selfish DNA violate Mendel’s Law of Segregation to increase their own rate of transmission.

Bio: Dr. Takashi Akera graduated from the University of Tokyo with a Ph.D. in Biophysics and Biochemistry in 2014 and conducted postdoc research at the University of Pennsylvania in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Lampson from 2015 to 2019. He received both Holtzer Award for outstanding postdoctoral research in Cell and Developmental Biology and Kaushal Award for excellence in postdoctoral research in Genetics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2018. He was also a finalist for the ASCB Porter Prize for Research Excellence Award in 2018. Dr. Akera joined the NHLBI in 2019 as an Earl Stadtman tenure-track Investigator.

To learn more about Dr. Akera, view his publication at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29097549/ and his website at: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/science/chromosome-dynamics-and-evolution