Geoff Findlay, PhD

Associate Professor of Biology

Office: O'Neil 107, phone: 508-793-2655

Lab: O'Neil 105

B.A. in biology, Carleton College, 2005

Ph.D. in genome sciences, University of Washington, 2009

postdoctoral fellowship in molecular biology and genetics, Wolfner Lab, Cornell University, 2010-2013

Research interests:

I have been interested in the function and evolution of reproductive proteins ever since I did undergraduate research in this area during my summer vacations from college.  This topic is fascinating to me because of a fundamental paradox: reproductive proteins must function properly in order for an organism to enjoy maximal fitness, yet many such proteins evolve remarkably rapidly between even the most closely related of species.  In fact, reproductive proteins are among the fastest evolving in the genome -- just like proteins involved in immune recognition.  How can certain reproductive proteins change so quickly and maintain their essential functions?  Why do other reproductive proteins evolve more typically (i.e., slowly)?

I have been investigating these question in a variety of systems, including the abalone, the house mouse and the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster.  Our current work focuses on Drosophila and examines the evolution of genes that evolved very recently, likely from non-protein-coding DNA sequences.  In a variety of animals, such "de novo" evolved genes are often expressed in the testes.  With the support of an NSF CAREER award and outstanding bioinformatics assistance from our collaborators in Dr. Erich Bornberg-Bauer's lab at the University of Münster, we screened over 40 putative de novo genes to identify those that were required for full male fertility.  We found at least four such genes whose knockdown or knockout renders male nearly sterile.  We have functionally characterized these genes and found that they act at a variety of steps in spermatogenesis, such as the elongation of sperm tails and the condensation of sperm nuclei.  In a new Research at Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) grant from the NSF, we are studying the functional consequences of these proteins' evolution across Drosophila species and working to understand the gene regulatory mechanisms that control when these de novo proteins are produced during spermatogenesis.  For more information about these projects, please see our Research page.

Teaching:

In Spring 2024, I am teaching an interdisciplinary Pandemic Policy course (CISS 209) with Prof. Denis Kennedy in the Political Science department.  I am also teaching an upper-level class (seminar/lab combined) on Genome Evolution (Bio 399).  I often teach Genetics with lab (Bio 261), lecture sections of Intro to Cell and Molecular Biology (Bio 161), and Genetic Analysis (Bio 262), a very of Genetics without a lab.  I will be on leave during Fall 2024 for a faculty research fellowship.

Funding:

Our lab is currently funded by an NSF Research at Undergraduate Institutions grant, "Understanding how de novo evolved genes evolve protein interactions and regulatory mechanisms in Drosophila reproduction" (award #2212972).  Amount: $662,355 over three years (2022-2025). 

Previous External Funding:

NSF CAREER award, "Functional and evolutionary analysis of de novo evolved genes in Drosophila male reproduction" (award #1652013).  Amount: $780,902 over five years (2017-2022).

Subcontractor for NIH R01, “Actions of seminal proteins in mated Drosophila females” (2R01HD038921-15), awarded to M. Wolfner; amount of subcontract: $25,734.

Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH, 2011-2013.

3CPG Postdoc Fellowship, Cornell University, 2010-2011.

For a list of my previous papers, please see the Publications page.

CV:

You can download my full CV by clicking here (last updated: 4/2024).