Ayse Tenger-Trolander
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ayse joined the lab in June 2021 after completing her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in Marcus Kronforst’s lab. Ayse’s dissertation research focused largely on using naturally occurring variation in monarch butterfly populations to investigate the underlying genetic origin of migration and migration-related phenotypes. In the Wittkopp Lab, Ayse is exploring the role of microRNAs in Drosophila’s pigmentation gene regulatory network and development.
Holly Scheer
MCDB Graduate Student
Holly joined the Wittkopp Lab in May, 2022. She is a graduate student who completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan in 2021 with a double major in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Ecology, Evolution, and Biodiversity (what a mouthful!). During undergrad, she participated in labs that study cancer biology, ecology of the Chernobyl area, and pollen development. Here at the Wittkopp Lab, Holly is interested in studying gene regulation and its role in evolution. Outside of the lab, Holly enjoys rock climbing, earthing, getting sunburned, playing Dungeons and Dragons, and drinking copious amounts of La Croix.
Patricia (Trisha) Wittkopp
Principal Investigator
Dr. Wittkopp's studies of evolution and development in Drosophila started during her undergraduate research with Dr. Greg Gibson at the University of Michigan (B.S. 1997), and continued during her doctoral work at the University of Wisconsin with Dr. Sean Carroll (Ph.D. 2002). From 2002-2005, Dr. Wittkopp studied the evolution of gene expression as a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Andy Clark at Cornell University. Coming full circle, the Wittkopp lab was officially founded at U. Michigan in August 2005.
Mo Siddiq
Postdoctoral Fellow
Mo joined the lab in March 2019 after completing his PhD working with Joe Thornton in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago. Mo’s dissertation research combined ancestral sequence reconstruction, protein biochemistry, and physiological assays of transgenic organisms to test hypotheses about the underlying genetic and functional mechanisms of alcohol adaptation in D. melanogaster. In the Wittkopp Lab, Mo will use natural and artificial variation in regulatory sequences to study how gene expression evolves, with a focus on experimentally characterizing how genotype-phenotype relationships shape and are shaped by long-term evolutionary divergence.
Eden McQueen
Postdoctoral Fellow
Eden joined the Wittkopp lab in February 2021. She completed her PhD in the lab of Mark Rebeiz in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Pittsburgh. Eden’s dissertation centered on the evolution of development and morphological novelties, using the rapidly diversifying genitalia of males and females in the Drosophila melanogaster subgroup as a model system. She is particularly interested in the role of pleiotropy in the evolution of the gene regulatory networks that underlie complex traits. In the Wittkopp lab, Eden will be using the Saccharomyces Cerevisiae system to investigate how gene regulatory networks shift across environments and across a range of evolutionary timescales. Eden is co-mentored by Aaron Novick, a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Washington. Her work in philosophy of science focuses on clarifying the definitions of gene regulatory networks and the representations used to depict them. The goal of this theory work is to facilitate the generation of fruitful research questions related to gene regulatory networks.
Henry Ertl
EEB Graduate Student
Henry earned his B.S. in Cell Biology and Genetics at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he studied the genetics of Drosophila speciation in the lab of Dr. Carlos Machado. After graduating, he joined Dr. Jan LaRocque's lab at Georgetown University as a lab technician focusing on DNA repair pathways in Drosophila. Henry joined the Wittkopp lab in fall 2017, and is interested in the mechanisms and evolution of developmental regulatory networks.
Anna Redgrave
EEB Graduate Student
Anna earned her bachelor's and master's in the lab of Dr. Ann Burke at Wesleyan University, contributing data from the zebrafish to a project comparing the embryonic origins of the vertebrate muscular body wall. She then worked for two years as a research technician in the lab of Dr. Sarah McMenamin studying the role of thyroid hormone signaling in zebrafish post-embryonic development. For her PhD in the Wittkopp lab, Anna is looking to zoom in on the molecular mechanisms of evolution, using computational techniques to study the evolution of gene regulatory networks. In her spare time, Anna enjoys farming, being near farms, and playing farm-themed video games.
Nick Brown
Undergraduate Assistant
Nick Joined the Wittkopp Lab in Winter 2020 as an undergraduate lab assistant. He graduated from Ionia High School in 2019 and joined the University of Michigan Class of 2023. As of now, he plans on majoring in Microbiology or Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology with a minor in Gender and Health. He is interested in studying miRNA interactions in the context of pigmentation evolution.
Hannah Kania
Research Technician
Hannah joined the Wittkopp Lab in June 2021. She is a graduate of the University of California Berkeley, earning her B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology with an emphasis in Developmental Genetics in 2021. In the Wittkopp Lab, she has been working on an independent project investigating co-option of glycolytic enzymes for use in species interactions, focusing on the TDH paralogs, and helps with ongoing projects. She will be moving in August 2022 to start graduate school at Duke University.
