In June, current and former Braun lab members attended the Evolution conference in Providence, RI, ate seafood, and talked about science.
Current PhD student Kevin Bennett presented work pioneered by former postdoc H.C. Lim and continued by H.C., Mike, and Kevin on the genetic basis of sexual traits that differ between Golden-collared and White-collared Manakins in Panama. Take a look at this paper and this paper for some background on the study system.
The work of lab alumna Noor White continues to contribute to the rapidly advancing field of phylogenomics. She and Mike Braun were coauthors on an avian supertree analysis that was featured on the cover of the journal Diversity in July 2019.
The paper can be found here.
Last night was the Smithsonian’s Congressional Night, which rotates between museums each year. This year, NMNH hosted senators, representatives, families, and staff from Capitol Hill to visit the museum and learn about the science we do here.
The event was well-timed with the recent opening of the new Deep Time exhibit, so members of Congress got to see the museum’s newly unveiled fossils as well as information on the history of the planet and how humans are changing it. More on Deep Time here: https://wapo.st/2Qo1pjI
The Braun Lab was represented at the event, as well. Mike was in the fossil hall telling visitors about the dinosaurs still alive today — birds!
Our December PhyloPizza event will take place on Tuesday, December 11th, at 5:30pm in the Vertebrate Zoology Seminar Room (WG-33). Dr. Klaus-Peter Koepfli will give a talk entitled “Applying genomics to inform conservation management of ex situ populations of the critically endangered dama gazelle (Nanger dama).” Join us!
Photo by Budhan Pukazhenthi
Our international collaboration to save Red Siskins got some press yesterday! Read on below to learn about how we are conserving siskin habitat through Bird Friendly coffee farms.
English:
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/11/01/world/americas/ap-lt-venezuela-rare-bird-rescue.html
Spanish:
https://apnews.com/d3dabf29671a4cd581c9f53b735d1cd8
Read more about the Red Siskin Initiative here:
http://www.redsiskin.org/
Read more about Bird Friendly Coffee here:
https://nationalzoo.si.edu/migratory-birds/bird-friendly-coffee
The Braun Lab welcomes its newest member, Shauna Rasband. Shauna is a PhD student at the University of Maryland – College Park. She got her Bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and comes to us most recently from the Smithsonian Center for Conservation and Sustainability. Read more about Shauna’s research on the People page.
Our October PhyloPizza event will take place on Tuesday, October 9th, at 5:30pm in the Vertebrate Zoology Seminar Room (WG-33). Dr. Lily Hughes will give a talk entitled “Tackling ‘Data Error’ in Phylogenomics with a Case Study in Fishes.” Join us!
Our April PhyloPizza event will take place on Tuesday, April 10, at 5:30pm in the Vertebrate Zoology Seminar Room (WG-33). Dr. Ben Busby will give a talk entitled “NCBI Resources for Next-generation Phylogenetic Analysis.” Join us!
The Braun Lab welcomes its new member, Kevin Bennett. Kevin is a PhD student at the University of Maryland – College Park. He comes to us from his Master’s program at Fordham University in New York. Read more about Kevin’s research on the People page.
Congratulations to Braun lab postdoc HC Lim, who will begin as faculty at George Mason University this Fall!
