Andrew Whitehead

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Chair - Professor

4121 Meyer Hall

Research:

The Whitehead lab studies how genomes integrate cues from, respond to, and are shaped by the external environment. We examine genomic responses to stress that occur over physiological timescales (acclimation responses) and over evolutionary timescales (adaptive responses), and is interested in stressors that are natural (temperature, salinity) and of human origin (pollutants, climate change).

Specialties/Focus:

  • Ecotoxicology
  • Evolutionary toxicology
  • Trans-generational toxicology

Education:

  • Ph.D. UC Davis
  • Postdoctoral Research University of Miami

Teaching:

  • ETX 120 Aquatic Toxicology
  • ETX 150 Evolution in Human Altered Environments
  • ETX 240 Ecotoxicology
  • ECL 243 Ecological Genomics

Campus Membership: (e.g., graduate groups, centers)

  • PTX, GGE, IGG, PBGG, Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute, Center for Population Biology

Recent Publications:

Miller, J.R., B.W. Clark, N.M. Reid, S.I. Karchner, J.L. Roach, M.E. Hahn, D. Nacci, and A. Whitehead (2023). Independently evolved pollution resistance in four killifish populations is largely explained by few variants of large effect. BioRxiv. doi: 10.1101/2023.04.07.536079.

Dong, Y., T.S. Blanchard, A. Noll, P. Vasquez, J. Schmitz, S.P. Kelly, P.A. Wright, and A. Whitehead (2021). Genomic and physiological mechanisms underlying skin plasticity during water to air transition in an amphibious fish. Journal of Experimental Biology. 224: jeb235515.

Oziolor, E.M., N.M. Reid, S. Yair, K.M. Lee, S. Guberman VerPloeg, P.C. Bruns, J.R. Shaw, A. Whitehead*, and C.W. Matson* (2019). Adaptive introgression enables evolutionary rescue from extreme environmental pollution. Science. 364: 455-457.