Oomycete Biodiversity, Evolution, & Systematics
Welcome to the Blair Lab @ F&M
Welcome to the Blair Lab in the Department of Biology at Franklin & Marshall College. Our research focuses on the evolutionary biology of eukaryotes, specifically the fungal-like Oomycetes. These organisms are ubiquitous in nature, occupying niches in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. Many species are saprotrophic, playing a crucial role in nutrient cycling. Other species are devastating pathogens, such as the causal agent of potato late blight, Phytophthora infestans. We use a combination of field sampling, molecular sequence analysis, and comparative genomics to study the evolution of this important group.
Professor Jaime E. Blair (she/her)
Department of Biology
Franklin & Marshall College
Lancaster, PA 17603
Contact
A little about me ...
I started my science journey as a Chemistry major at Ithaca College in New York. After enrolling in an evolutionary biology elective as a junior, I fell in love with the idea of using DNA sequence data to understand the ancient history of life on Earth (and promptly changed my major to Biology!). I then went on to graduate school in Molecular Evolution and Astrobiology at Penn State University. After earning my PhD, I spent a year in a Plant Pathology lab at Penn State (where I met my favorite pathogens) and two years as a teaching post-doc in Genomics at Amherst College. I then joined the Biology Department at F&M in 2008. My family and I live in Lancaster and love exploring the local environment (looking for oomycetes!).