Edward L. Braun

personal site

Assistant Professor
Ph.D. University of New Mexico 1996

514 CRR
P.O. Box 118525
Gainesville, FL
32611-8525
Voice: (352) 846-1124 Fax: (352) 392-3704
ebraun@zoology.ufl.edu

Research Interests

I am broadly interested in the process of genome evolution and have projects exploring genomic evolution at various points in the history of organisms. Since the analysis of genome evolution requires a variety phylogenomic approaches, I am also interested in the theory and practice of phylogenetic and bioinformatic studies. My interest in the theory used in nucleic acid and protein sequence comparisons reflects a broader interest in the use of mathematical and computational methods in biology, and my service on the Liberal Arts and Sciences Mathematical Sciences Committee (http://msc.clas.ufl.edu) also reflects that interest.

Students Currently Supervised

Jena Chojnowski (PhD)
Jena’s primary interest is developmental biology and embryology. For some time, she has been part of the Early Bird project and is responsible for design of primers that allow amplification of the Clathrin Heavy Chain gene (one of the many loci used by Early Bird). For her thesis project, Jena has begun using genomic approaches to examine development in the Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta).

Sarah Haas (PhD, Co-sponsored with Rebeccca Kimball)
Behavioral ecology & conservation genetics.

Deena Westbrook (PhD, Co-sponsored with Rebecca Kimball)
Deena just joined the lab after receiving her degree from Florida State University. She examined the amoA gene (encoding ammonium monooxygenase A) in nitrifying bacteria for her honors thesis at FSU (where she was advised by Joel Kostka and David Swofford). Deena has been helping with the Early Bird project while she develops her ideas for a thesis project.

Representative Publications

Braun, EL. 2003. Innovation from reduction: Gene loss, domain loss and sequence divergence in genome evolution. Applied Bioinformatics, 2:13-34.

Braun, EL, AP Dias, TJ Matulnik & E Grotewold. 2001. Transcription factors and metabolic engineering: Novel applications for ancient tools. Recent Advances in Phytochemistry, 35:79-109.

Braun, EL & E Grotewold. 2001. Fungal Zuotin proteins evolved from MIDA1-like factors by lineage-specific loss of MYB domains. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 18:1401-1412.

Braun, EL, AL Halpern, MA Nelson & DO Natvig. 2000. Large scale comparison of fungal sequence information reveals innovation in the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa and gene loss in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genome Research, 10:416-430.

Braun, EL & RT Kimball. 2002. Examining basal avian divergences with mitochondrial sequences: Model complexity, taxon sampling and sequence length. Systematic Biology, 51:614-625.