Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics for FY 2002

Hodges Wendy L, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biological Informatics for FY2002. The fellowship supports research and training at the postdoctoral level at the intersection of biology and the informational, computational, mathematical, and statistical sciences. The goal of the fellowship is to provide training to a young scientist in preparation for a career in biological informatics in which research and education will be integrated. There is an increasing need for training in biological informatics at all occupational levels, and it is expected that Fellows trained through these fellowships will play important roles in training the future workforce. The research and training plan for this fellowship is entitled "High-Resolution Imagery and New Visualization Tools for Reconstructing a Horned Lizard Ancestor." Complex images generated by high-resolution x-ray computed tomography are being combined with phylogenetic hypotheses and algorithms to estimate and visualize ancestral traits in a genus of lizards, Phrynosoma. The primary hypothesis, that horn complexity increases along phylogenetic branches, is being tested by reconstructing ancestral morphology and visualizing changes from ancestor to extant species using comparative methods.