The genotype-phenotype-phenotype-phenotype map

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Environment and Natural Resources 2 Building, room S107
1064 E. Lowell St / Tucson, AZ  85721

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Event Description

When most people think about how a mutation impacts phenotype, they think about changes at the organismal level. Does it predispose an individual to disease? Does it help bacteria resist drugs? But that’s not the whole story…

Every mutation has an impact at the molecular level, for example, by changing the level of a transcript or the fold of a protein. These effects fan out to influence other phenotypes, ultimately causing changes at the level of cells and organisms. The KGS lab focuses on this wider view by tracing the impact of mutations through what we call the genotype-phenotype-phenotype-phenotype map.

To study this map, we merge high-throughput experiments in yeast with computational and mathematical approaches. We observe how the impacts of mutations change in similar ways across contexts and use similarities to build predictive models. Predicting the impacts of genotype on phenotype remains one of the most important goals in all of science.

Presenter Details

Kerry Geiler-Samerotte, PhD
Assistant Professor, School of Life Sciences
Assistant Professor, Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution
Assistant Professor, Leadership
Arizona State University

Geiler-Samerotte earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in 2004 in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, advised by Rick Harrison, PhD. She became enamored with the idea that small changes at the molecular level could have meaningful impacts. From this moment on she studied ideas related to understanding the impacts of genetic changes on cells, organisms and populations.

Geiler-Samerotte earned her PhD from Harvard University in 2011 in Organismal and Evolutionary Biology, co-advised by Daniel Hartl, PhD, and D. Allan Drummond, PhD. Geiler-Samerotte’s postdoctoral work was completed with Mark Siegal, PhD, in the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology at New York University, as well as with Dmitri Petrov, PhD, at Stanford University.

Geiler-Samerotte’s interest in research began under the mentorship of her high school teacher, Paul Lichtman. Inspired by his mission to bring a love of science to underrepresented students, Geiler-Samerotte organizes a women in science training program for high schoolers.