Boom! When Evolutionary Biology and Toxicology Collide

Noah Whiteman, PhD, a professor at UC Berkeley, shares his unique perspective on toxins, stemming from his background in entomology and plant-insect interactions. He explores how toxins impact the ecology and evolution of various organisms, from insects to humans, with co-hosts Anne Chappelle, PhD, and David Faulkner, PhD.About the GuestNoah Whiteman, PhD, is Professor of Genetics, Genomics, Evolution, and Development in the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology and the Department of Integrative Biology at University of California (UC) Berkeley. His laboratory focuses on understanding why and how organisms deploy toxins as weapons that they use in offense and defense. Dr. Whiteman is Co-director of the NIH T32 Genetic Dissection of Cells and Organisms Training Program that provides training to 16 PhD students in genetics.Dr. Whiteman conducted his dissertation research in the Galapagos Islands on co-evolution between birds and their parasites. He then completed an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard where he began to use plants as model hosts that were attacked by diverse parasites. At UC Berkeley, his laboratory focuses on how plants have evolved to produce diverse toxins as defensive shields and how insects have evolved in response to resist and even sequester them. He uses genomics and genome editing as a tool to ascertain which genetic changes are responsible for these co-evolved traits.Send SOT thoughts on the episodes, ideas for future topics, and more.