Heath Blackmon

Dismantling Chromosomal Stasis Across the Eukaryotic Tree of Life

The paper measures the rate of chromosomal change across eukaryotic clades and finds that dysploidy rates vary widely, influenced by life history and population structure rather than phylogeny.

Functional synaptic connectivity of engrafted spinal cord neurons with locomotor circuitry in the injured spinal cord

This study investigates how transplanted neural progenitor cell-derived neurons integrate into spinal cord locomotor circuits and their functional impact on motor recovery after injury.

Genome assembly of the southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmerman) reveal the origins of gene content reduction in Dendroctonus

The paper presents a chromosome-level genome assembly of the southern pine beetle and identifies gene content reduction and annotation biases in the Dendroctonus clade.

From Micro to Macro: Avian Chromosome Evolution is Dominated by Natural Selection

This study estimates rates of chromosome number evolution in birds, finding higher fusion rates and a correlation between micro- and macrochromosome rearrangements, with population size and selection influencing these patterns.

CaveCrawler: An interactive analysis suite for cavefish bioinformatics

CaveCrawler integrates genomic and transcriptional data from Astyanax mexicanus to compare gene expression and selection markers between surface and cave populations.