Melissa A. Wilson Explained

Melissa A. Wilson
Birth Place:Stillwater, Oklahoma
Citizenship:United States
Nationality:American
Alma Mater:Creighton University (BS: Medical Mathematics), Pennsylvania State University (PhD: Integrative Biology)
Thesis Year:2011
Doctoral Advisor:Kateryna Makova
Known For:Science Communication, research on sex chromosomes
Spouse:Scott Sayres (m. 2010, divorced 2019)

Melissa A. Wilson is an evolutionary and computational biologist and assistant professor at Arizona State University who studies the evolution of sex chromosomes.[1] [2] [3]

Personal life and education

Wilson was born in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and lived there until she was five, then moving to Garland, Texas, then Tempe, Arizona, then to Syracuse, Nebraska. She graduated from Syracuse High School in Nebraska[4] and received her B.S. in Medical Mathematics with Honors in May 2005 from Creighton University under Lance Nielsen.

She received her Ph.D. in integrative biology at Pennsylvania State University under her thesis advisor Kateryna Makova in 2011. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship under Rasmus Nielsen at UC Berkeley in 2014.

She was professionally known as Melissa A. Wilson Sayres from 2010 until her divorce from Scott Sayres, a physical chemist,[5] in 2019.[6] Together they have one daughter.

Career

Wilson is an assistant professor of genomics, evolution, and bioinformatics at Arizona State University. There she is PI of the Sex Chromosome Lab, where she studies genome evolution, mutation rate variation, and population history. One finding of her lab is that crossing over between the X and Y chromosomes occurs in some regions of the chromosomes more often than was previously thought.[7] Another discovery is that the Y chromosome is not decreasing in size,[8] [9] [10] which contradicts previously publicised claims that the Y chromosome might disappear.[11]

She also discovered evidence of a Y chromosome population bottleneck in human history.[12] [13] Wilson hypothesised that a possible explanation for this was partially cultural, saying "“Instead of ‘survival of the fittest’ in a biological sense, the accumulation of wealth and power may have increased the reproductive success of a limited number of ‘socially fit’ males and their sons.”[14]

The lab uses the Gila monster as a model organism to understand the evolution of sex chromosomes.[15] [16] As part of her research, she started a crowdfunding campaign which successfully raised over $10,000 to sequence the Gila monster's DNA.[17] She has referred to the animals as "cool" and "lovable."

Wilson holds one patent for tumor treatments,[18] and is the developer of several software packages, including XYalign, for accurately aligning sex chromosomes, and TumorSim, for simulating tumor heterogeneity.

Science communication

Wilson is active in public outreach.[19] [20] She is a regular on the ASU "Ask a Scientist" podcast and has been interviewed by the New York Times,[21] The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine,[22] and the Pacific Standard, among others, as an expert on genetics. She has also publicly spoken out against the use of science to justify white supremacy[23] and transphobia,[24] and against the maltreatment of victims of sexual assault.[25]

Publications and awards

Selected publications

Selected awards

Notes and References

  1. Web site: ASU researchers study the impact of sex chromosomes. The Arizona State Press. 2019-06-13.
  2. Web site: Sex Chromosome Lab. Sex Chromosome Lab. en-US. 2019-06-13.
  3. Web site: Melissa Wilson. 2019-06-12. Institute of Human Origins. en. 2019-06-13.
  4. Web site: Profile – Helium Zone. en-US. 2019-11-13.
  5. Web site: mathbionerd: My last name is two words, take two. Melissa A. Wilson Sayres. 2010-12-16. mathbionerd. 2019-11-13.
  6. Web site: mathbionerd: Changing your name after divorce in academia. Melissa A. Wilson. 2019-03-02. mathbionerd. 2019-11-13.
  7. Web site: Blurred lines: Human sex chromosome swapping occurs more often than previously thought. ScienceDaily. en. 2019-06-13.
  8. Web site: Study dispels theories of Y chromosome's demise. 2001-11-30. Berkeley News. en-US. 2019-06-13.
  9. Web site: Guys, Your Y Chromosome Is an Evolutionary Marvel. Ghose. Tia. Live Science. 12 November 2012 . 2019-06-13.
  10. Web site: Y Chromosome Likely To Stop Shrinking, Scientists Say (Phew!). 2014-01-10. HuffPost UK. en. 2019-11-13.
  11. News: Male extinction theory challenged. Bowdler. Neil. 2012-02-22. 2019-12-11. en-GB.
  12. Web site: Something Weird Happened to Men 7,000 Years Ago, And We Finally Know Why. Starr. Michelle. ScienceAlert. 31 May 2018 . en-gb. 2019-06-13.
  13. Web site: 8,000 Years Ago, 17 Women Reproduced for Every One Man. Diep. Francie. Pacific Standard. 14 June 2017 . en. 2019-06-13.
  14. News: How Survival of the Fittest Became Survival of the Richest. Sarah Kaplan. March 18, 2015. The Washington Post.
  15. Web site: Gila monster may help reveal evolution of sex chromosomes. 2017-04-28. Radio National. en-AU. 2019-06-13.
  16. Arizona's Adorable Monster. Yong. Ed. 2016-10-18. The Atlantic. en-US. 2019-06-13.
  17. Web site: Gila monster genomics: conservation, venom, and treatments for Type-II diabetes. Experiment - Moving Science Forward. en-us. 2019-12-11.
  18. Olney. Kimberly C.. Nyer. David B.. Sayres. Melissa A. Wilson. Haynes. Karmella A.. Activation of tumor suppressor genes in breast cancer cells by a synthetic chromatin effector. bioRxiv. en. 186056. 10.1101/186056. 2018. 12 . 30253781 . free. 6156859.
  19. Web site: Melissa Wilson. School of Life Sciences. 2019-11-13.
  20. Web site: Why Y? Evolutionary biologist Dr Melissa Wilson Sayres joins RealScientists. 2014-04-06. RealScientists. en. 2019-11-13.
  21. News: Secrets of the Y Chromosome. Angier. Natalie. 2018-06-11. The New York Times. 2019-11-13. en-US. 0362-4331.
  22. The Earliest Mammals Kept Their Cool With Descended Testicles. Wu. Katherine J.. Smithsonian. en. 2019-11-13.
  23. News: Geneticists Criticize Use of Science by White Nationalists to Justify 'Racial Purity'. Harmon. Amy. 2018-10-19. The New York Times. 2019-06-13. en-US. 0362-4331.
  24. What National Review Doesn't Understand About Sex. Keenan. Jillian. 2014-06-04. Slate Magazine. en. 2019-12-11.
  25. We Asked 105 Experts What Scares and Inspires Them Most About the Future. Ferreira. Becky. 2018-12-05. Vice. en. 2019-11-13.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Melissa A. Wilson".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.