Blue Genes and Boots

Howdy everyone! In this episode, Joe and Anthony interview guests from Texas A&M’s 2023 Genome Editing Symposium. Dr. Jeffrey Barrick is an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin where his research is focused on the development of methods to predict and stop unwanted evolution of microbes. Recently, his group has started to apply synthetic biology tools to manipulate bacteria...

Howdy everyone! In this episode, Joe and Brittni talk to Ben Thomas, a PhD candidate in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Genetics and Genomics at Texas A&M. His lab is in the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology and his advisor is Dr. Zhilei Chen.  If you want to know more about the Genetics program at Texas A&M or the research discussed in this episode, please visi...

In this episode, Sarah interviews Dr. Larry Suva. Dr. Suva is a professor and is the department head of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M. He is also a member of our very own faculty of genetics. Sarah discusses Dr. Suva's path from industry to academia and his ongoing research in uncovering regulatory pathway...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Joe and Serina talk to faculty of genetics, Dr. Zach Adelman. Dr. Adelman is a professor of entomology and Chair of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Genetics and Genomics here at A&M, where he is also a Presidential Impact Fellow. His focus is on the development of novel gene editing and gene replacement approaches for disease...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots! In this episode, Serina and Aaron talk to Esmé Cope, a graduate student in the Texas A&M Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Genetics and Genomics. Esmé works in Dr. Zach Adelman's laboratory, where she studies the genetic mechanisms surrounding the mosquito  Aedes aegypti .  If you want to know more about the Genetics program at Texas A&M or the res...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Serina and Aaron talk to faculty of genetics, Dr. David Riley. Dr. Riley is a professor of genetics and animal breeding here at A&M, with a special focus on cattle genetics. His research examines the association of genes, gene combinations, and other molecular variants with beef cattle production traits, especially those traits related...

In this episode, Sarah talks to fellow GENE student, Anthony Matarazzo. After receiving undergraduate degrees in Biology and Anthropology from the University of Florida, Anthony spent three years working in industry labs where he helped diagnose patients with genetic disorders and produced gene-therapy products to treat such diseases. His current research in the Rimer and Srinivasan labs here at T...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Ashley and Emmarie talk to Dr. William Murphy. Dr. Murphy is a professor in the vet school at Texas A&M University, and his work focuses on comparative genomics, phylogeny and molecular evolution, with a specific focus in feline genetics. Dr. Murphy’s work has been very influential, from laying the groundwork for comparative genomics a...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Anthony and Ramiah talk to Serina Taluja. Serina is the founder and creative director for this podcast, in addition to being a fourth year graduate student in the genetics program. She's in Dr. David Stelly’s lab, and her graduate work has been focused on characterizing and manipulating meiotic recombination in cotton to increase over...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Sarah and Emmarie talk with Dr. Claudio Casola. Dr. Casola is an associate professor in the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology. Dr. Casola’s research encompasses many aspects of evolutionary biology, conservation genetics, ecology, and population dynamics, with a special focus on plant and insect genome evolution. If you want t...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Serina and Khushboo talk with Michelle Jonika. Michelle is a fifth-year Ph. D. student in the genetics program, getting ready to defend her dissertation in early 2023! She’s completed her research in Dr. Heath Blackmon’s lab, and her work focuses on the structure and evolution of sex chromosomes, as well as many other fascinating aspects o...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Ramiah and Sarah talk with Dr. Jessica Galloway-Peña. Dr. Galloway-Pena is an assistant professor in the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology and is currently recognized as a Montague Center for Teaching Excellence Scholar here at Texas A&M. Her research focuses on the genetic basis of pathogenesis as well as microbiome dynamics durin...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots! In this special mini-episode, we talk to two of our SURGe (Summer Undergraduate Research in Genetics program) students and hear about how their experience in the program went. Listen and learn about what you can look forward to if you apply for the 2023 cycle! If you'd like to submit an application and join us next summer Apply here! https://genetics.tamu.edu/...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Anthony and Khushboo chat with former genetics grad student Dr. Caitlin Curry. After receiving her degree in 2019, Dr. Curry accepted a Post-Doc position at “Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium'' working in Conservation Genetics. She is currently working at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance as a Research Coordinator, als...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Aaron and Serina host Dr. Kevin Bredemeyer, who is a bioinformatics scientist at Catalytic Data Science, and the first of our special alumni guests here on the podcast! He earned is Ph. D. from our program (the IDP in Genetics and Genomics) at Texas A&M in 2021. He worked in Dr. William Murphys lab and used a wide array of bioinformati...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots! In this episode, Josh and Aaron interview Dr. Rachel Whitaker, a microbiologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who works primarily on archaea. Dr. Whitaker has been a faculty member at UIUC since 2006 and has worked as both a researcher and lecturer. She is widely recognized for her teaching excellence and is active outside of research with sever...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Serina and Madison host Apoorva Mandavilli, a reporter for the New York Times who covered much of their discussion on the coronavirus pandemic. Apoorva is a decorated journalist and freelance writer, winning the 2019 Victor Cohn Prize for Medical Science Reporting, and has work featured in popular news outlets like The Atlantic, Nature, Th...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Khushboo and Sarah host Dr. David Stelly, who works primarily on cotton and cytogenetics here at Texas A&M. However, his career didn’t always focus on cotton. Dr. Stelly has experience working with a plethora of crops and has trained countless scientists who have gone on to careers in both industry and academia. In this episode, we tal...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Khushboo and Sarah host two graduate students from our program, Autumn and Amanda, who rock the research world by day, and provide all the love and support for their families by night as mothers and wives. Amanda works in Dr. Sarah Bondos’s lab on protein biology and protein synthesis, and loves what she does, almost as much as she loves h...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, distinguished redox- turned PTSD investigator Dr. Adam Case joins Anthony Matarazzo and Serina Taluja to talk about the emerging field of mental health research and its implications on graduate school.  Dr. Case received his BS in Biochemistry and PhD in Free Radical and Radiology Biology from the University of Iowa. He recently joined Tex...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Joe Romanowski and Madison Williamson host two of their fellow second-year Ph. D. students in the Genetics IDP- Lois Gordils Valentine and Osiris Lopez Garcia. Joe and Madison got to chat with Lois and Osiris about their experiences doing summer undergraduate research experiences and how those experiences prepared them for their graduate s...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Joe Romanowski and Lilia Sanchez host two women absolutely vital to the Genetics program- Tamara Ospina-Vega and Dr. Ximena Paez-Colasante. Without the two of them, the program could not be where it is today, and in this episode we chat with them about how they came to the Genetics program, what they’ve enjoyed most about their work, and a...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Lily Sanchez and Madison Williamson host their lab members- Dr. Weston Porter, Ramiah Vickers, Steven Wall, and Garhett Wyatt- to discuss their research, what led Dr. Porter to Texas A&M, and how their lab culture has changed over time. The Porter lab began its research journey here at Texas A&M in 2001. Dr. Porter's lab start...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Matt Jevit and Josh Meehan host Dr. Heath Blackmon to discuss his research, what led him to Texas A&M, and why he’s known around campus as “The Beetle Guy”. Dr. Blackmon received his BS in Environmental Science from Oregon State University and his Ph. D. in Quantitative Biology from the University of Texas at Arlington. In addition to...

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Anthony Matarazzo and Lilia Sanchez host fourth year PhD students Khushboo Rastogi and Aravindh Nagarajan to discuss their experiences as international students in the Texas A&M Genetics program. Khushboo received her B.S. from Tamil Agricultural University in India and her M.S. from Seoul National University in South Korea. She now st...