Resume

• 21218

  3520 Martin Dr.

  Baltimore MD

  C-MOOR is a platform in development that seeks to empower individuals by breaking down common barriers to scientific participation: access to data

  analytical tools

  and scientific mentors. At C-MOOR we have three objectives: \n1) To provide a platform that gives everyone a means to gain the quantitative literacy necessary for sound scientific judgements and promote data-driven and evidence-based citizenship \n2) To promote mutually beneficial relationships between individuals and scientific mentors that can lead to collaborations and \n3) To partner with established programs that have identified individuals with undeveloped scientific potential. \nNon-traditional students

  of any age

  from anywhere

  will have access to high quality data generated at Carnegie and to the scientists who generated it.

  Director of C-MOOR: Carnegie Massive Open Online Research

  Carnegie Institution for Science

  Fresno

  California Area

  Biology Faculty Clovis Community College

  Clovis Community College

  Aggression is a conserved behavior that likely evolved to allow individuals obtain and defend resources. However

  for long-term success in a dynamic environment

  individuals need to regulate aggressive behavior at key times to optimize their reproductive success. Overly cautious individuals may bypass opportunities to gain or retain resources while overly aggressive ones may waste energy or risk injury. The decision to attack or withdraw

  to escalate aggression or retreat

  is affected by both an individual’s genetic make-up and life experiences. My goal is to uncover the underlying mechanisms that lead to differences in behavioral responses.\n\nI am interested in the neural circuitry of aggressive behavior and I have chosen a non-traditional model system to develop my research program. The African cichlid

  Astatotilapia burtoni is remarkably plastic and lives in a dynamic hierarchical social system; males that are aggressive control natural resources. Among dominant males I have found differences in behaviors and endocrine responses. Thus

  I have categorized these males in two classes

  those with stable aggression and those with escalating aggression. The individual variability in behavioral responses to the same stimulus provides a powerful system to identify the molecular mechanisms that lead to those differences. \n\nOne candidate mechanism for regulating plasticity and rapid neuronal changes is translational repression mediated by microRNAs

  a post-transcriptional mechanism with the potential to cause a quick turnover of mRNAs expressed in neurons. I use NGS to identify genomic differences and in situ hybridization to localize and identify expression patterns of genes. I have annotated brain microRNAs in our system and by using LNA probes

  I have determined the expression patterns of some conserved and highly enriched brain microRNAs. My goal is to find their mRNA targets and determine their role in regulating social behavior in vivo.

  Stanford University

• 2009

  Postdoctoral Fellow

  Behavioral Neuroscience

• 1998

  Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

  Biology

  The Johns Hopkins University

• 1995

  Ph.D.

  Molecular Biology

  The Johns Hopkins University

  Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

  Biology

  University of California

  Riverside

  Doctorate degree

  Molecular Biology

  The Johns Hopkins University

• 1992

  The Johns Hopkins University

  Doctor of Philosophy - PhD

  Molecular Biology and Genetics

  Molecular Biology

  Associate of Science (A.S.)

  Business Administration and Management

  General

  Pasadena City College

• Neuroscience

  Genetics

  Animal Behavior

  Molecular Biology

  RNA Biology

  Life Sciences

  In Vivo

  Cell Biology

  Biochemistry

  Microscopy

  Cell Culture

  Research

  Loss-of-function mutations in a glutathione S-transferase suppress the prune-Killer of prune lethal interaction.

  Loss-of-function mutations in a glutathione S-transferase suppress the prune-Killer of prune lethal interaction.

  Andrew Z. Fire

  Unusual DNA Structures Associated With Germline Genetic Activity in Caenorhabditis elegans

  Two types of dominant male cichlid fish: Behavioral and hormonal characteristics

  B. Bernaba

  Russell Fernald

  AT Hilliard

  Alcazar RM

  Hilliard AT

  Becker L

  Bernaba B

  Fernald RD (2014) “Brains Over Brawn: Experience Overcomes A Size Disadvantage In Fish Social Hierarchies”

  Transmission Dynamics of Heritable Silencing Induced by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans

  Cichlid fishes are famous for large

  diverse and replicated adaptive radiations in the Great Lakes of East Africa. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying cichlid phenotypic diversity

  we sequenced the genomes and transcriptomes of five lineages of African cichlids: the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

  an ancestral lineage with low diversity; and four members of the East African lineage: Neolamprologus brichardi/pulcher (older radiation

  Lake Tanganyika)

  Metriaclima zebra (recent radiation

  Lake Malawi)

  Pundamilia nyererei (very recent radiation

  Lake Victoria)

  and Astatotilapia burtoni (riverine species around Lake Tanganyika). We found an excess of gene duplications in the East African lineage compared to tilapia and other teleosts

  an abundance of non-coding element divergence

  accelerated coding sequence evolution

  expression divergence associated with transposable element insertions

  and regulation by novel microRNAs. In addition

  we analysed sequence data from sixty individuals representing six closely related species from Lake Victoria

  and show genome-wide diversifying selection on coding and regulatory variants

  some of which were recruited from ancient polymorphisms. We conclude that a number of molecular mechanisms shaped East African cichlid genomes

  and that amassing of standing variation during periods of relaxed purifying selection may have been important in facilitating subsequent evolutionary diversification.

  The genomic substrate for adaptive radiation in African cichlid fish.

  Carnegie Institution for Science

  Stanford University

  Clovis Community College