On March 8, 2023, Sabrina Mostoufi successfully defended her PhD! Sabrina gave a terrific talk on the role of Wolbachia in plastic recombination. She showed that Wolbachia titer does not affect the magnitude of plastic recombination. She further showed that Wolbachia has pervasive effects on transposable element expression in a variety of genetic backgrounds. Sabrina is now an instructor in the departments of Biology and Computer Science at UO.
LyAndra Lujan joined the Singh lab in June 2021 as a doctoral graduate student. In 2019 LyAndra received her B.A. in Evolutionary Anthropology from the University of New Mexico where she focused on human population genetics. She then spent a year in the Department of Ornithology at UNM studying population genetics and computational genomics in hummingbirds. LyAndra’s research focuses on using population genetics and computational genomics to investigate the evolution of proteins involved in meiotic recombination in arthropods and vertebrates. Outside of work she enjoys tending to her growing plant collection and lifting heavy weights.
Audra McClure-Begley moved to Eugene from Boulder, Colorado in April 2020, right at the beginning of the COVID19 lockdown. While in CO she worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado-Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, as well as earning both her BS in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology and MS in Data Analytics. When not working, Audra loves nothing more than the natural world and prides herself in her ability to see beauty in all kinds: from the plants and ants to the quails and whales, and everything in between! She spends her free time gardening, exploring the outdoors, spending time with her many rescued animals (pictured with her chicken Agnes), traveling, and has a secret love for adrenaline adventures.
Audra is currently pursuing a secondary master’s in science management and leadership from Webster University and is looking forward to applying her programming and statistical data analysis skills to the biology side of science.
Singh Lab 