I am an evolutionary biologist who enjoys cooking, running, and (recently) climbing. In my spare time I like assembling genomes of interesting critters and am always on the lookout for fun collaborations!
Currently, I am a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Miami in the Marine Genomics lab, expected graduation Fall 2022. My dissertation work focuses on rapid evolution in response to changing environmental temperature in a small teleost fish, Fundulus heteroclitus. In spring 2023 I will start an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship with Dr. Suzanne McGaugh (University of Minnesota) and Dr. Johanna Kowalko (LeHigh University) to build a genotype to fitness map in Mexican tetras (Astyanax).
Drown, M. K., DeLiberto, A. N., Flack, N., Doyle, M., Westover, A. W., Proefrock, J. C., ... & Oleksiak, M. F. (2022). Sequencing bait: Nuclear and mitogenome assembly of an abundant coastal tropical and subtropical fish, Atherinomorus stipes. Genome Biology and Evolution.
Drown, M. K., Crawford, D. L., & Oleksiak, M. F. (2022). Transcriptomic analysis provides insights into molecular mechanisms of thermal physiology. BMC genomics, 23(1), 1-19.
Drown, M. K., DeLiberto, A. N., Ehrlich, M. A., Crawford, D. L., & Oleksiak, M. F. (2021). Interindividual plasticity in metabolic and thermal tolerance traits from populations subjected to recent anthropogenic heating. Royal Society open science, 8(7), 210440.
Traylor-Knowles, N., Connelly, M. T., Young, B. D., Eaton, K., Muller, E. M., Paul, V. J., ... & Rodriguez, K. (2021). Gene expression response to stony coral tissue loss disease transmission in M. cavernosa and O. faveolata From Florida. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8, 681563.
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Contact
Email: mxd1288@miami.edu
Twitter: @melissakd6