Simon Coppard, visiting assistant professor of biology, presented a talk on Jan. 5 at The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology annual meeting in Portland, Ore. His talk was titled “Patterns of expression and evolution of cryptochrome and timeless genes involved in lunar spawning: Temporal prezygotic isolation among sympatric species of the pantropical sea urchin Diadema.”
This research looks at genes that regulate lunar spawning in sea urchins of the genus Diadema and how their expression controls temporal reproductive isolation (new moon vs full moon) among sympatric species which is import for maintaining specific integrity. See the full abstract.
