Evolution of Vertebrate Genomes

Insights Into Cancer, Pluripotency and Regeneration

The unique selective pressures and functional constraints that vertebrate lineages have experienced over deep evolutionary time have resulted in a diversity of different mechanisms that mediate recombination (meiotic and mitotic), gene duplication, and the evolution of novel functional elements and developmental mechanisms. My lab is generally interested in understanding how vertebrate genomes evolve at the molecular level and how these changes contribute to the evolution of development. Ongoing studies take advantage of the deep evolutionary history of key vertebrate groups (including lamprey and salamander) in order to better understand how novel genomic functions arise and contribute to an organism’s biology.

Jeramiah Smith

Department of Biology

University of Kentucky

Lexington, KY 40506

jjsmit3@uky.edu

Smith LAB Lab