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Background
I grew up in Bolton, MA, a rural town whose main industry is apple orchards. I spent five
years in Providence, RI where I completed a bachelors of science in biology at Brown and
thoroughly explored all the swimming holes in the Ocean State. After graduating in 2002,
I pursued my interest in human and primate population genetics as a technician in the lab
of Michael Hammer at the University of Arizona in Tucson. In the fall of 2005, I moved
back to Massachusetts and began the Ph.D. program in OEB.
Research interests
My broad interests are in population genetics, molecular evolution, and sexual selection.
For my dissertation project and I doing a molecular population genetic study of a sex ratio
distorter and its suppressor. As a post-doc in our lab, Yun Tao headed a project to map the
Winters sex-ratio genes, “Distorter on the X” (Dox) and “Not Much Yang” (Nmy) an autosomal
suppressor of Dox. In males, the Dox gene causes developmental abnormalities in Y-bearing
sperm so that males have mostly daughters. The Nmy gene is a dominant suppressor of Dox and
restores 50/50 sex ratios through an RNA interference mechanism.
From several populations of Drosophila simulans, I have been sequencing Dox, Nmy, and another
gene “Mother of Dox” (MDox), which was duplicated to form Dox. So far, we have found evidence
of an incomplete selective sweep at Nmy, which is consistent with a model of frequency
dependent selection on a suppressor gene. We also find bidirectional gene conversion (concerted
evolution) between the paralogous Dox and MDox loci.
In addition to the empirical population genetic work, I have tested several naturally occurring
Dox alleles for sex ratio distortion using fly crosses. I find that the wild type allele is a
distorter but that natural populations harbor several null Dox that do no distort.
In Michael Hammer's lab, I sequenced Alu-elements on the human Y chromosome and developed novel
markers for population genetic studies. We used these Y sequences in conjunction with mtDNA and
X linked sequences to characterize the historical demographic forces that have shaped human genetic
variation. One interesting result was higher female migration rates among native Siberian
populations, and a skewed sex ratio in favor of females in some populations known to be polygynous.
I was also fortunate enough to be involved with the preliminary work for an ongoing project looking
for genetic evidence of admixture between modern humans and archaic hominids.
As an undergraduate at Brown, my interest in science was fostered by David Rand and Marc Tatar, with
whom I completed a project on the molecular evolution of a primate seminal protein, semenogelin I,
which coagulates into a copulatory plug in some species. I sequenced this gene in several great ape
species with diverse mating systems and found a relationship between strength of positive selection
and mating system where polyandrous species such as chimpanzee showed stronger selection than
monandrous species such as gorilla.
Publications
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Cox MP, Mendez FL, Karafet TM, Pilkington MM, Kingan SB, Destro-Bisol G,
Strassmann BI, Hammer MF. (2008) Testing for archaic hominin admixture on the X
chromosome: model likelihoods for the modern human RRM2P4 region from summaries of
genealogical topology under the structured coalescent. Genetics. 178:427-37.
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Pilkington MM, Wilder JA, Mendez FL, Cox MP, Woerner A, Angui T, Kingan S,
Mobasher Z, Batini C, Destro-Bisol G, Soodyall H, Strassmann BI, Hammer MF. (2008)
Contrasting signatures of population growth for mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosomes
among human populations in Africa. Mol Biol Evol. 25:517-25.
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Garrigan, D and Kingan SB (2007). Archaic human admixture: a view from
the genome. Current Anthropology 48: 895-902.
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Garrigan D, Kingan SB, Pilkington MM, Wilder JA, Cox MP, Soodyall H,
Strassmann B, Destro-Bisol G, de Knijff P, Novelletto A, Friedlaender J, Hammer MF.
(2007) Inferring human population sizes, divergence times and rates of gene flow
from mitochondrial, X and Y chromosome resequencing data. Genetics. 177:2195-207.
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Tao Y, Araripe L, Kingan SB, Ke Y, Xiao H, Hartl DL. (2007) A sex-ratio
meiotic drive system in Drosophila simulans. II: an X-linked distorter. PLoS Biol.
5:e293.
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Garrigan, D., Z. Mobasher, S. B. Kingan, J. A. Wilder, and M. F. Hammer
2005 Deep haplotype divergence and long-range linkage disequilibrium at Xp21.1 provide
evidence that humans descend from a structured ancestral population. Genetics.
170:1849-56.
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Edwards, S. V., S. B. Kingan, J. D. Calkins, C. N. Balakrishnan,
W. B. Jennings, W. J. Swanson, and M. D. Sorenson 2005 Speciation in birds: Genes,
geography, and sexual selection. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102: 6550-6557.
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Wilder, J. A., S. B. Kingan, Z. Mobasher, M. M. Pilkington
and M. F. Hammer 2004 Global patterns of human mitochondrial DNA and
Y-chromosome structure are not influenced by higher migration rates of
females versus males. Nat. Gen. 36: 1122-1125
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Wilder, J. A., S. B. Kingan, Z. Mobasher, M. M. Pilkington
and M. F. Hammer 2004 Global patterns of human mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome
structure are not influenced by higher migration rates of females versus males.
Nat. Gen. 36: 1122-1125.
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Kingan, S. B., M. Tatar, and D. M. Rand 2003 Reduced polymorphism
in the chimpanzee semen coagulating protein, semenogelin I. J. Mol. Evol.
57: 159-169.
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Hobbies
I have been a skater, coach, and owner of the Boston Derby Dames, a roller derby league, since 2005.
My involvement with BDD has been an amazing complement to my intellectual life at Harvard. We practice
3-5 times a week and compete monthly in fully produced bouts at Shriners Auditorium, in Wilmington MA,
where we attract crowds of up to 1,600 people. With the Boston Massacre, our all-star team, I have
traveled to Seattle, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Columbus, New York, and Madison, to compete with other
teams in single bouts or tournaments. Through BDD I’ve found an amazing group of tough, smart women who
challenge me everyday to skate fast and hit hard. Between school and derby, I occasionally work at the
Union Square Farmers market but mostly I just savor my free time on the couch.
Learn more about BDD and the sport of women’s flat track roller derby:
bostonderbydames.com
wftda.com
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