I am interested in the dynamics that arise when evolutionary forces act on overlapping time scales. I derive theoretical predictions for patterns of genetic variation in such scenarios and identify phenomena that emerge when classical assumptions – like steady-state behavior or separation of time scales – no longer hold. My work spans allele frequency spectra under time-varying demography and selection, as well as correlations between selected alleles at linked loci.
I enjoy collaborating with field biologists to understand the evolutionary forces shaping natural populations. In a recent project, I analyzed temporal genotype frequency data to show that dominance reversal (when an allele switches from being beneficial and dominant to deleterious and recessive) helps maintain polymorphism in D. melanogaster. Earlier, I studied how past population growth contributed to deleterious variation in the critically endangered bird species C. pygmaea.
Later in graduate school, I grew interested in the dynamics and evolution of somatic cell populations. In collaboration with the Winslow lab, I study how cancers grow and spread by analyzing genetic barcoding data. One line of my work asks which features of early tumor growth kinetics generate the broad variability in lesion sizes observed in experiments.