Kafatos:Lawniczak, Mara

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Mara Lawniczak Kafatos/Christophides Lab 6th Floor SAF Building Division of Cell & Molecular Biology South Kensington Campus London, SW7 2AZ UK m.lawniczak#imperial,ac,uk (antispam: #→@ ,→.) Tel: +44 (0) 20 7594 3919 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7584 2056

education
University of California, Davis. Ph.D. in Population Biology. 2000- 2004. Advisor: Dr. David Begun.

University of Texas, Austin. First year Ph.D. program in Integrative Biology. 1999-2000. Advisors: Dr. James Bull & Dr. David Begun.

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Bachelor of Science with High Honors in Biology. 1993-1997. Advisors: Dr. Shawn Meagher & Dr. Philip Myers.

postdoctoral project

I am currently developing an Affymetrix SNP chip for Anopheles gambiae which will interrogate several hundred thousand SNPs. This is in collaboration with Seth Redmond (Imperial) and Danny Park and Dan Neafsey (at the Broad Institute). I will be using this technology to examine the genetic basis of Anopheles susceptibility to Plasmodium falciparum (malaria). If this method is successful, I plan to use it to examine genotype*genotype interactions between the vector and the parasite as such interactions have a large impact on the outcome of an infection (Lambrechts et al 2005).

I am also interested in the biology and underlying speciation genetics of the Anopheles gambiae incipient species M and S and understanding the genetic basis of the speciation process, in general.

interests evolutionary genetics, sexual conflict, sexual selection, host-parasite antagonistic coevolution, genetic conflict, evolvability, population genetics/genomics, drosophila, anopheles, plasmodium, cephalopods & nepenthes.

previous appointments
University College London. BBSRC funded postdoctoral researcher. 2004- 2006. Advisor: Dr. Tracey Chapman.

publications

1. Lawniczak MK, Holloway AK, Begun DJ, and Jones CD. Genomic analysis of the relationship between gene expression variation and DNA polymorphism in Drosophila simulans. Genome Biol. 2008;9(8):R125. DOI:10.1186/gb-2008-9-8-r125 |
2. Holloway AK, Lawniczak MK, Mezey JG, Begun DJ, and Jones CD. Adaptive gene expression divergence inferred from population genomics. PLoS Genet. 2007 Oct;3(10):2007-13. DOI:10.1371/journal.pgen.0030187 |
3. Lawniczak MK and Begun DJ. Molecular population genetics of female-expressed mating-induced serine proteases in Drosophila melanogaster. Mol Biol Evol. 2007 Sep;24(9):1944-51. DOI:10.1093/molbev/msm122 |
4. Lawniczak MK, Barnes AI, Linklater JR, Boone JM, Wigby S, and Chapman T. Mating and immunity in invertebrates. Trends Ecol Evol. 2007 Jan;22(1):48-55. DOI:10.1016/j.tree.2006.09.012 |
5. Lawniczak MK and Begun DJ. A QTL analysis of female variation contributing to refractoriness and sperm competition in Drosophila melanogaster. Genet Res. 2005 Oct;86(2):107-14. DOI:10.1017/S0016672305007755 |
6. Lawniczak MK and Begun DJ. A genome-wide analysis of courting and mating responses in Drosophila melanogaster females. Genome. 2004 Oct;47(5):900-10. DOI:10.1139/g04-050 |