Jeffrey Townsend, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Asst Prof Ecology/Evolutionary Biology

Current Projects

We have many projects ongoing in the lab, covering topics we have already published on and more.

Research Summary

Jeffrey Townsend works to integrate mathematical, computational, and molecular biological tools to explain evolutionary processes. His research develops and integrates theory and experimental approaches to comparative and functional genomic analysis. Ongoing projects include bioinformatics and statistics for analysis of transcriptomics technologies, population genetic and molecular evolutionary theory on horizontal gene transfer in microbial populations, and the phylogenetic informativeness of molecular sequence data. Experimental work in his lab includes the population genetics, interspecies fertility, development, and functional genomics of the model fungi Saccharomyces cerevisiae (wine yeast) and Neurospora crassa (a filamentous fire burn fungus).

Selected Publications

  • Zhang, Z., and J.P. Townsend, 2009. Maximum-likelihood model averaging to profile clustering of site types across discrete linear sequences. PLoS Computational Biology 5(6): e1000421.
  • Wang, Z., P.R. Johnston, Z.L. Yang, and J.P. Townsend, 2009. Evolution of reproductive morphology in leaf endophytes. PLoS ONE 4(1): e4246.
  • Hodgins-Davis, A. and J.P. Townsend, 2009. Evolving gene expression: from G to E to G x E. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 24(12):649-658.
  • Zhang, Z., K.H. Cheung, and J.P. Townsend, 2009. Bringing Web 2.0 to bioinformatics. Briefings in Bioinformatics 10(1):1-10.
  • Townsend, J.P., 2007. Profiling phylogenetic informativeness. Systematic Biology 56(2):222-231.
  • Townsend, J.P. and Taylor, J.W., 2005. Designing experiments using spotted microarrays to detect gene regulation differences within and among species. Methods Enzymol. 395:597-617.

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