With the onset of nice weather in Columbus (finally!) and the sun shining bright, we welcome two very bright summer scholars to the Anderson Lab. Maria joins us from UFRN in Brasil, where she is pursuing her Bachelors in Biomedical Sciences. She will be working towards verifying potential genes involved in C. albicans yeast-to-hyphae transition using the CRISPR-Cas9 system. Abigail joins us from the University of Richmond, where she is pursuing a Bachelors degree in Biochemistry and Arabic. Her project will focus on characterizing individual TLO genes in C. albicans. Welcome aboard, Maria and Abigail, and we hope you have a fantastic time in the lab and in Columbus this summer!

Maria Gabriela Cunha Lemos dos Santos

Abigail Ali

The Anderson Lab extends a warm welcome to Dale Lingo, who has officially joined the lab as a PhD student in March. Dale previously completed his Bachelors in Molecular Genetics at OSU. His project will focus on identifying gene(s) involved in unique phenotypes obtained from clinical isolates of C. albicans. Using a combination of computational and molecular tools, Dale aims to identify the mechanisms by which different isolates have increased anti-fungal properties, hyper-colonization, and differences in virulence. Welcome aboard, Dale!

Dale Lingo

Chloe Elliott was recently awarded $2,500 as a part of the Undergraduate Research Scholarship for the ASC Honors Program at OSU. We congratulate Chloe for her successful research proposal and wish her the very best with the project. Chloe is an amazing researcher and we’re sure that there are many more laurels to come!

The field of genomics has benefited greatly from its “openness” approach to data sharing. However, with the increasing volume of sequence information being created and stored and the growing number of international genomics efforts, the equity of openness is under question. The United Nations Convention of Biodiversity aims to develop and adopt a standard policy on access and benefit-sharing for sequence information across signatory parties. This standardization will have profound implications on genomics research, requiring a new definition of open data sharing. The redefinition of openness is not unwarranted, as its limitations have unintentionally introduced barriers of engagement to some, including Indigenous Peoples. This commentary provides an insight into the key challenges of openness faced by the researchers who aspire to protect and conserve global biodiversity, including Indigenous flora and fauna, and presents immediate, practical solutions that, if implemented, will equip the genomics community with both the diversity and inclusivity required to respectfully protect global biodiversity.

https://www.pnas.org/content/119/4/e2115860119

Mc Cartney, A.M., Anderson, J., Liggins, L., Hudson, M.L., Anderson, M.Z., TeAika, B., Geary, J., Cook-Deegan, R., Patel, H.R. and Phillippy, A.M., 2022. Balancing openness with Indigenous data sovereignty: An opportunity to leave no one behind in the journey to sequence all of life. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119(4), e2115860119 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2115860119

With the turn of the year, we are excited to welcome Shane Hendricks to the lab. Shane joins us after completing a degree in Microbiology from The Ohio State University and will be working broadly on the ongoing TLO gene family evolution project in the lab. Welcome!

Shane Hendricks

hendricks.246@osu.edu

While most fungi have the ability to reproduce sexually, multiple independent lineages have lost meiosis and developed parasexual cycles in its place. Emergence of parasexual cycles is particularly prominent in medically relevant fungi from the CUG paraphyletic group of Candida species. Since the discovery of parasex in C. albicans roughly two decades ago, it has served as the model for Candida species. Importantly, parasex in C. albicans retains hallmarks of meiosis including genetic recombination and chromosome segregation, making it a potential driver of genetic diversity. Furthermore, key meiotic genes play similar roles in C. albicans parasex and highlights parallels between these processes. Yet, the evolutionary role of parasex in Candida adaptation and the extent of resulting genotypic and phenotypic diversity remain as key knowledge gaps in this facultative reproductive program. Here, we present our current understanding of parasex, the mechanisms governing its regulation, and its relevance to Candida biology.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2021.796929/full

Mishra, A., Forche, A., Anderson, M.Z. Parasexuality of Candida Species. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology 11, 1236 (2021). https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2021.796929

Approaching the end of Fall 2021 semester and the onset of frosty weather, we extend a warm welcome to the newest member of our lab, Julia Riegler. Julia is an OSU sophomore who will be working with Andrew Woodruff to investigate the effect of existing aneuploidies on the genetic architecture of C. albicans. Welcome!

Julia Riegler

Dr. Matthew Anderson was awarded an NSF Collaborative Research award (#2124995) entitled: Assessing the bioethical impacts of an Indigenous scholars network in genomics.

Engagement of Indigenous communities by scientific researchers is riddled with examples of scientific misconduct and a lack of direct benefit to participants and their communities. The Summer internship for INdigenous peoples in Genomics (SING) short course offers training and tools for early career Indigenous scientists to engage in the research process and community members to guide their communities in making informed decisions about research. Alumni of SING and affiliated faculty have organized through the workshop to present ethical concerns around current frameworks of scientific engagement to the general scientific community and to raise the collective voice of Indigenous people in genomics research. However, the impact of SING in its mission to inform participants in genomics research in Indigenous communities and build out networks of collaborating Indigenous researchers have not been explicitly tested. This study defines the role and impact of SING in shaping views of research and incorporating
Indigenous researchers into scholarly networks among Indigenous alumni and faculty. Long-term assessment of training programs such as SING have not been investigated to any great extent such that this can serve as a model for determining the effectiveness of short course scientific training programs.

Recognizing that genomic research is inherent in future medical, scientific, and translational research, the inclusion and involvement of Indigenous people is important and the role of SING to facilitate this engagement is unparalleled. In this project, the investigators objectively measure the impact of the SING program by eliciting the perceptions and understandings of genome science and ethics engagement of past SING participants and faculty through focus groups surveys, and social network analysis. Specifically, the project engages SING alumni and participants by 1) elucidating Indigenous perspectives on genetic research and scholarship, 2) defining interactions and influences initiated by SING among Indigenous genomics scholars, and 3) developing and delivering topic specific training for the general public and SING alumni. Findings from this work will inform in-person training for the SING program and engagement of the general scientific community to impact research approaches, scholarship, and public policy.

This project was funded through the ER2 program by the BIO directorate.

This award reflects NSF’s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation’s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2124995&HistoricalAwards=false

Much has happened in Anderson Lab since the last update.

After his graduation, Dr. Matthew Dunn has started a new job at VWR (part of Avantor). Congratulations and all the best, Matt! Luckily for us, he is still stationed in Columbus, so we get to meet him whenever he comes around the OSU campus!

We are also joined by three (yes, that’s right!) new lab members:

Mandy Joers

joers.1@osu.edu

Lina Gokhale

Dale Lingo

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend my seminar either in person or through Zoom. I appreciate all of the support, best wishes, and friendship throughout this process. I have always said research is a team sport and I just happen to play on the best team.