Projects
Abundant lethal alleles in natural populations
Natural selection removes bad alleles from natural populations, but counterintuitively, natural populations of many species (including humans!) nonetheless still harbor numerous recessive "lethal" alleles. Surely, a balance between mutation and natural selection explains "many" of the lethal alleles that persist in natural populations. However, some lethal alleles are found at unusually high individual frequency.
We are exploring this subset of abundant alleles to see if the other processes are at work, using deficiency stocks, high-throughput sequencing, and population genetic tests for selection. This research will help elucidate the forces affecting fitness-reducing variation that persists in natural populations of a wide range of species.
Genetics and evolution education
Our research team and collaborators have always been interested in biology education, including developing various new educational activities and resources. Two particularly unusual projects include developing a kit for studying natural selection in Drosophila marketed by Carolina Biological Supply and helping with the design of apps for learning about genetics and evolution. We continue to be interested in the development of such activities and resources, including doing proper assessment of their efficacy in classrooms.
Dr. Noor also develops a lot of lessons on genetics and evolution leveraging science-fiction, and especially Star Trek (for which he serves as a scientific consultant). He published a book teaching introductory genetics & evolution concepts using this approach, and he regularly gives public talks at conventions or online. See his "BioTrekkie" outreach page for more information.