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Patricia Wittkopp
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2002
U-M affiliation(s)
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (Adjunct)
Program in Biomedical Sciences
Center for Statistical Genetics
Center for Computational Medicine and Biology
Contact information
University of Michigan
1061 Kraus Natural Science Bldg.
830 N. University
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1048
Phone: (734) 763-1548, office
(734) 647-5483, lab
Fax: (734) 763-0544
Email: wittkopp@umich.edu
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Fields of study
Evolutionary genetics and genomics, evolution of development
Academic background
Dr. Wittkopp received her B.S. at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) in 1997, her Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Wisconsin (Madison, WI) in 2002, and conducted postdoctoral research at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) from 2002-2005 as a fellow of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. Dr. Wittkopp joined the EEB faculty in September 2005.
Graduate student
Elliott Howell
Wittkopp Lab home page
News
Wittkopp awarded prestigious Sloan Fellowship
Professor Patricia Wittkopp has been awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship for 2008. Alfred P. Sloan Fellowships are intended to enhance the careers of the very best young faculty members in their field of science. Wittkopp researches evolutionary genetics and genomics, and the evolution of development. She receives a $50,000 grant for a two-year period. Since the award’s inception in 1955, 35 Sloan Research Fellows have gone on to win the Nobel Prize in their fields. Brava!
REU supplements from NSF
Professors Chris Dick and Patricia Wittkopp have each received Research Education for Undergraduate supplements of $6,000 from the National Science Foundation. This outreach program increases research opportunities for undergraduates.
In Wittkopp’s lab, Emma Stewart will be adding to their studies of the genetic basis of pigmentation evolution in flies. In Dick’s lab, Barbara Wagner will study the ecology of seed and pollen dispersal of tree species on the Barro Colorado Island field station run by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.
Wittkopp receives March of Dimes young scientist award
to help find treatments and cures for birth defects
Professor Patricia Wittkopp is the recipient of the Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Research Award 2007 Program from the March of Dimes. The title of her grant is “The genetic basis of abnormal gene expression.”
The goal of Wittkopp’s research is to elucidate fundamental properties of DNA mutations that cause changes in gene expression. Altered gene expression can disrupt development, causing birth defects. The March of Dimes’ goal is to find treatment and cures for birth defects.
In addition to its medical implications, this work will uncover basic principles of genetic changes that lead to differences within and between species. Wittkopp will receive $150,000 over two years beginning February 1, 2007. For 2007, 42 awards were granted nationwide, Wittkopp’s was the only one in the state of Michigan.
Wittkopp gets NSF grant to explore evolutionary genetics
Kudos to Professor Trisha Wittkopp on her NSF grant “Genetic basis of pigmentation evolution in Drosophila,” a three-year grant for $450,000 beginning in February 2007. The goal of the project is to identify the genetic basis of body color differences within and between species of fruit flies. "By studying genetic changes affecting pigmentation in flies, we will learn about basic evolutionary genetic mechanisms common to all living things," she said.
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