Mark Phillips
Oregon State University, OR·Ecology & Evolution
Why do some people get diseases more easily than others, and why do some age more slowly and live longer? Answering these questions requires knowing how evolution shapes genetic and trait differences within populations.
- Fields
Ecology & Evolution
Genetics
Biology
- Topics
experimental evolution
evolutionary biology
Drosophila
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2029
What they work on
- Identify factors that drive differences in rates of senescence, or biological aging, by applying metabolomic profiling and 3D electron microscopy to fruit fly populations evolved with very different lifespans and life histories.
- Establish an experimental evolution model of type 2 diabetes susceptibility by raising fruit fly populations on high-sugar diets for many generations to enrich for sugar-tolerant individuals.
- Collect genomic, transcriptomic and metabolomic data from sugar-selected fly populations as they evolve to determine how DNA, gene activity and metabolism together shape sugar tolerance.
More about the research
That is hard to work out from natural populations, where it is difficult to separate the effects of natural selection, random genetic drift and population changes. Experimental evolution, watching populations evolve in real time under controlled conditions, offers a direct way to test these ideas. Studies in sexually reproducing populations show that adaptation usually draws on existing genetic variation and involves hundreds of genes. Researchers can find such genes but cannot easily test what they do on a large scale.
Why it matters
Understanding why individuals differ in how they age and in their risk of type 2 diabetes is a step toward personalized medicine, where treatments are matched to a person's biology. Findings from evolving fly populations on how genes, gene activity and metabolism combine to shape health traits could inform future prevention and treatment strategies for these conditions.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Xuan Zhuang
University of Arkansas, AR·Genetics·Early-career
Identify precursor sequences and mechanisms of gene birth for type I antifreeze proteins by comparing genomes of AFPI-bearing fishes with close relatives that lack these ice-binding genes.
Michal Polak
University of Cincinnati, OH·Ecology & Evolution
Test for trade-offs between evolved resistance to mite ectoparasites and major life-history traits such as reproductive output in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.
Patricia Wittkopp
University of Michigan, MI·Genetics
Identify the genes and specific DNA changes behind trait differences within and between fruit fly (Drosophila) species, and determine how they alter molecular, cellular and developmental processes.
The school
Oregon State University: 29 labs on PI Pages, $372M a year on research, 238 research doctorates a year.
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