Maitreya Dunham

Research Summary

The Dunham lab develops & applies genomic tools to study genome evolution & genetic variation in yeast & humans. We utilize the budding yeasts as a testbed for technology development & as an experimentally tractable system for evolutionary genetics & genomics. Current projects include understanding the costs & benefits of aneuploidy, building new instruments for continuous culture, functionally characterizing centromeres across species, beer yeast, evolving yeast in a high school teaching lab, & developing high throughput methods for measuring the impact of genetic variation in yeast & humans.

DEI Statement

Clones are for microbiology & molecular genetics, not for the people who do science. I’ve been fortunate to get to work with so many interesting, talented, smart, & fun students, each of whom has brought something unique to our team thanks to their diverse backgrounds, interests, & personalities.

I also believe that public outreach and education are our responsibility as scientists. I’m proud that people in my lab engage fully both with their research and with outreach, including high school teaching labs, public talks, tutoring, science fairs, & collaborations outside academia.

Training Summary

Culturally Aware Mentorship Training, Genome Sciences Faculty training with Greg Taylor and the Lavender Rights Project, Center for Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research mentor-mentee training, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Laboratory Management Course