Emily and Erica collaborated with Anna Runemark at Lund University on this survey of gene expression in hybrids. This paper was made possible by support from the University of Denver Internationalization International Partnership & Development Grant and the Swedish Foundation for International Research and Higher Education (STINT).

Runemark A, Moore EM, and EL Larson. 2024. Hybridization and gene expression: beyond differentially expressed genes. Molecular Ecology. 00:e17303. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17303

Emily won the Lorraine Flaherty award at the TAGC24 conference for her presentation on parent-of-origin disruption of growth and metabolism. Congratulations Emily!

Congratulation to TJ Firneno, Gabrielle Welsh and Peter Nimlos for publishing a case study using field crickets to teach evolution students about phylogenetic trees.

A great collaboration through the Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives on Speciation - lead by Zach Gompert and TJ Firneno.

TJ is leading a massive field effort between the Larson and Firneno Labs! Below are a few photos from their various trips across the field cricket hybrid zone.

Erica and Emily traveled to Lund, Sweden to visit the Runemark Lab and work on a publication with Anna. They enjoyed a traditional Swedish crayfish party and a tour of Scania.

Camille presents her research on animal weapon evolution in rhinoceros beetles at SMBE 2023.

Camille and TJ presented their research at the ASN 2003 meeting at Asilomar.

The Larson Lab, Taylor Lab (University of Colorado Boulder), Runemark Lab (Lund University), and Velotta Lab (University of Denver) had a fall research retreat at CU’s Mountain Research Station. Everyone presented their research, cooked lots of great food and carved pumpkins.

Congratulations to NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Biology - TJ Firneno!

Dr. TJ Firneno is joining the Larson Lab as an NSF postdoc to study field cricket hybrid zones. TJ is broadly interested in exploring the molecular mechanisms that drive diversification and speciation, promote and maintain biodiversity, and lead to the evolution of novel traits. To do this he integrates field work, natural history, museum science, genomic and other molecular laboratory methods, and computational biology. In the past TJ has used amphibians and reptiles as study systems to carry out his research; however, he is now switching out to their desired food source as a study system: crickets. When not in the lab, TJ enjoys hiking and taking in the outdoors, is a lover of the performing arts, and enjoys simply spending time with his partner and their three cat children. Follow TJ on Twitter: @SenorSapo28. Pronouns: he/him