People

Principal Investigator

Nina Overgaard Therkildsen, PhD

Assistant Professor
Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University
Email: nt246[at]cornell.edu

Faculty Fellow, Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future
Member, Cornell Center for Comparative and Population Genomics (3CPG)
Member, Cornell Center for Vertebrate Genomics

Postdocs

Arne Jacobs, PhD

Email: a.jacobs.research[at]gmail.com | Website: arnejacobs.com

Arne is broadly interested in understanding the population genomics and functional genomic mechanisms underlying the adaptation to different environments and associated phenotypic evolution. Currently, he is investigating the genomic architecture and mechanistic basis underlying local adaptation in Atlantic silversides combining low-coverage whole-genome sequencing and transcriptomic data. Arne is also using integrative approaches, combining developmental biology, ecology, population genomics and functional genomics to study the genetic and mechanistic basis of adaptive diversification in a range of other systems, such as urban adaptation in great tits and the loss of parasitism in lampreys.

Jonathan Velotta, PhD

Jon is an evolutionary biologist interested in how animals adapt to extreme challenges in their environment. His research merges physiological ecology with population and evolutionary genomics. He likes vertebrates best, and has studied both adaptation to high-altitude in mammals, and evolutionary transitions between salt- and fresh-water in fishes. In the Therkildsen Lab, Jon is working on the population and adaptation genomics of American shad and Atlantic silversides, two fishes close to his heart. He enjoys mountains, boats, and teaching students about the cool things animals do. See some fun pictures and a CV at jvelotta.com.

Graduate Students

Nicolas Lou

Email: rl683[at]cornell.edu

Nicolas is broadly interested in the application of genomic tools in the conservation and management of biodiversity. Currently, he is working on the genomic basis of local adaption in Atlantic cod, as well as the molecular mechanisms underlying its rapid evolution in response to size-selective fishing and climate change. In addition, he is also developing practical molecular tools for the species and sex identification in non-model species, for the benefit of management agencies and the aquaculture industry.

Maria Akopyan

Email: ma2256[at]cornell.edu
Website: makopyan.com

Maria is broadly interested in ecological and evolutionary genomics. Currently, she is working on characterizing the genomic architecture of local adaptation in Atlantic silversides, with a focus on describing structural variation between locally adapted populations and identifying genomic regions that underlie adaptive traits. Maria is also studying how dispersal-selection dynamics play out over seasonal time scales by collecting a time series of samples from several locations to infer how selection against migrants and their offspring maintains local adaptation despite homogenizing connectivity.

Lab Manager

Harmony Borchardt-Wier

Email: hbb7[at]cornell.edu

Lab Technician

Nick Locatelli

Email: nl532[at]cornell.edu

Nick is broadly interested in spatial patterns of genetic structure in marine organisms. His masters thesis explored the genetic structure and phylogeography of corals in Hawaii. In the Therkildsen Lab, Nick is a technician working on the metabarcoding of aquaculture feeds with Diana, Nina, Pete McIntyre, and Eugene Won.