Biology speaker Dr. Heather Hines to speak November 7

Friday, October 26, 2012 - 371 hits

Penn State Altoona will present "Canvases of Evolution: Discovering the genes underlying mimetic wing patterning in Heliconius butterflies" by Dr. Heather Hines, assistant professor of biology and entomology at Penn State, on Wednesday, November 7, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. in room 117 of the Science Building.

Hines received her Ph.D. in entomology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2008, focusing on the evolutionary history and mimetic color pattern evolution of bumble bees. Hines went on to do a NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship at NC State University. There she studied the genetics underlying the exceptional butterfly wing pattern diversity in Heliconius butterflies utilizing genomic, transcriptomic, and developmental approaches. Her current research program targets the genetics and evolution of mimicry in both Heliconius butterfly and bumble bee systems, with the goal of determining how genes drive adaptive diversification. Her research has resulted in 18 publications to date with articles in journals such as Systematic Biology, PNAS, Science, and Nature.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Biology Club and the Penn State Altoona Biology Degree program.