Dmitri Petrov, Michelle and Kevin Douglas Professor and associate chair of the Department of Biology at Stanford University, will give the next Vice President for Research Distinguished Lecture. His current research interests focus on the evolution of genomes and population genomics of adaptation and variation.
His talk, Barcoding Evolution, will take place on Monday, Oct. 21 at 3 p.m. in the Veterinary and Biomedical Research Building, room 305. Petrov's talk will highlight his work employing barcoding to quantify rapid adaptation in various systems. His specific focus in cancer, for example, derives from his interest in the basic process of somatic evolution and the recognition that the complexity of cancer requires quantitative approaches that traditionally have been applied to other model systems, such as experimental evolution in yeast.
Petrov is also the director of the Program for Conservation Genomics at the Center for Computational, Evolutionary, and Human Genomics at Stanford University. After receiving his doctoral degree in biology from Harvard, he was a research fellow at Harvard Medical School. Petrov joined Stanford in 2000.
The Petrov Lab does theoretical, computational and experimental work to address questions in molecular evolution and molecular population genomics. The current primary focus is on the process of rapid evolution. His experimental systems include seasonal adaptation in Drosophila, experimental evolution in yeast, and the mouse model of lung cancer. His lab has published over 50 papers in the last five years. Much of the focus is on training of students and postdocs. He is proud to say that 13 out of 15 former postdoctoral scholars in the lab hold tenure-track or tenured faculty positions.
The Vice President for Research Distinguished Lecture Series invites world-renowned experts to WSU to share ideas and spark conversations about research that addresses society's biggest challenges. Invited lecturers are leaders in their fields. This VPR Distinguished Lecture is sponsored by the Office of Research and is part of Research Week 2019.
