Theses

Graduate Theses

2025    Logan Brubaker successfully defended his Masters Degree thesis research titled “A MULTIPLICITY OF CIS-REGULATORY ELEMENTS DRIVE REGULATORY GENE EXPRESSION FOR A DROSOPHILA PIGMENTATION TRAIT”. (April 11^th 2025)

2024    Emily Daniel successfully defended her Masters Degree thesis research titled “CHARACTERIZATION OF A DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER GENE REGULATORY NETWORK BY RNA-INTERFERENCE AND CIS-REGULATORY ELEMENT”. (March 18^th 2024)

2023   Michael L. Weinstein defended his PhD thesis titled “A NOVEL ROLE FOR TRITHORAX IN THE GENE REGULATORY NETWORK FOR A RAPIDLY EVOLVING FRUIT FLY PIGMENTATION TRAIT”. (February 20^th 2023)

2021   Jesse T. Hughes defended his PhD thesis titled “REVEALING THE STRUCTURE AND EVOLUTION OF A FRUIT FLY GENE REGULATORY NETWORK BY VARIED GENETIC APPROACHES”. (September 16^th 2021)

2018, Sumant Grover defended his PhD thesis titled “THE GENE EXPRESSION UNDERPINNINGS FOR THE INDEPENDENT EVOLUTION OF A DROSOPHILA PIGMENTATION TRAIT”

2016, Eric M. Camino. PhD thesis titled “A MECHANISTIC ANALYSIS OF GENE REGULATION AND ITS EVOLUTION IN A DROSOPHILA MODEL”

2014, William A. Rogers. PhD thesis titled “UNDERSTANDING TRAIT EVOLUTION AT THE LEVELS OF A CIS-REGULATORY ELEMENT AND A GENE REGULATORY NETWORK”

2012, John C. Butts. Masters thesis titled “Tracking the sequences of regulatory linkages and their evolution within a fruit fly gene regulatory network“.

Undergraduate Theses

2022, Katherine A. Kohnen. “Resolving the mechanistic basis and evolutionary history for a pleiotropic genetic switch regulating the expression of a fruit fly gene”

2022, Jenna R. Rock. “Resolving the gene regulatory network for a fruit fly pigmentation trait whose modification underlies climate-driven phenotypic variation”

2021, Rachel Johnson. Undergraduate thesis titled “Using Gene Expression Comparisons to Reveal the Role of Transcription Factors in the Development and Evolution of a Fruit Fly Trait”.

2020, Chad M. Jaenke. Undergraduate thesis titled “Finding the Switches that Activate Animal Genes through a Combined in silico and in vivo Approach”.

2019, Abigail M. Groszkiewicz. Undergraduate thesis titled “Using RNA-interference to Identify the Genetic Toolkit for a Fruit Fly Morphological Trait“.

2018, Emily Wey. Undergraduate thesis titled “Resolving the Molecular Mechanisms by Which DNA Mutations Alter the Function of a Cis-Regulatory Element“.

2017, Alexandra Hallagan. Undergraduate thesis titled “CRISPR CREam for fruit flies: developing a genome-editing approach to study the cis-regulatory elements that control the activities of genes“.

2016, Maxwell J. Roeske. Undergraduate thesis titled “Tracing the Role of bab Gene Duplication and Divergence Events in the Evolution of a Fruit Fly Pigmentation Trait“.

2016, Claire C. Konys. Undergraduate thesis titled “The Role of Polycomb and Trithorax Genes in the Evolution and Development of an Animal Trait“.

2015, Mary P. List. Undergraduate thesis titled “Seeing Gene Expression in Space, Time, and Color: Evaluating New Fluorescent Proteins for the Study of Gene Regulation in Fruit Flies“.

2014, Kaitlyn R. Francis. Undergraduate thesis titled “Identifying the DNA Sequence Requirements for a Synergistic Interaction Between Two Cis-Regulatory Elements“.

2014, Samantha J. Stringer. Undergraduate thesis titled “Determining the Transcription Factor Genes Populating a Fruit Fly Pigmentation Gene Network and Their Regulatory Connections“.

2014, Jordan E. Vellky. Undergraduate thesis titled “Red Light, Green Light: A Novel Approach to Study Interactions between Enhancers and Gene Promoters“.

2013, Joseph R. Salomone. Undergraduate thesis titled “The Shaping of a Dimorphic Trait: The Evolution of Bab Paralog Expression and Abdominal Pigmentation among Sophophora Fruit Fly Species “.

2013, Connor W. McNamee. Undergraduate thesis titled “The Ancestry and Evolution of the Fruit Fly t_MSE Cis-Regulatory Element“.

2012, David J. Tacy. Undergraduate thesis titled “Visualizing Evolution through Differences in Gene Expression“.