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

My primary aim is to investigate genotype*genotype interactions between Anopheles gambiae mosquito vectors and Plasmodium falciparum parasites. Towards this goal, I have been collaborating with Dan Neafsey, Seth Redmond, and Danny Park in developing an Anopheles gambiae SNP chip. Our Affymetrix SNP chip interrogates 400,000 positions across the genome of Anopheles gambiae and 1000 positions across the genome of Plasmodium falciparum.

We are now using this technology to to dissect the genetic basis of Anopheles susceptibility to Plasmodium falciparum malaria and to examine population structure of Anopheles gambiae across Africa.

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. I am currently analyzing the whole genome sequence data from M and S colonies in collaboration with Nora Besansky, Scott Emrich (Notre Dame), and Alisha Holloway (Gladstone Institutes) among others.

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. Bretman A, Lawniczak MK, Boone J, and Chapman T. A mating plug protein reduces early female remating in Drosophila melanogaster. J Insect Physiol. 2010 Jan;56(1):107-13. DOI:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2009.09.010 |
2. 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 |
3. 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 |
4. 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 |
5. 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 |
6. 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 |
7. 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 |