Dr. Jeremy Bono
Using CRISPR to Change DNA

Monday May 8, 2017
The program starts at 6:30 PM with food and drinks served at 6:00 PM
Jack Quinn's in Downtown Colorado Springs
21 S. Tejon

Much of the extraordinary diversity that characterizes the natural world results from the process of adaptation. My research focuses on determining how adaptive processes, such as changes in DNA, shape diversification in populations, and ultimately how this can lead to the formation of new species. My lab is currently investigating the molecular basis of incompatibilities between male and female molecules that occur within the female reproductive tract after mating between different species of fruit flies. This contributes to understanding the genetic basis of speciation, and is relevant to research into human fertility and the control of insect pests that threaten human health and agriculture.

We have capitalized on the development of a new genome editing technology called CRISPR (Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, pronounced crisper), which allows for relatively easy modification of the DNA of an organism. The emergence of this exciting new system allows us to answer research questions in ways that were not possible even three years ago.

Dr. Jeremy Bono received his PhD in Biology from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO in 2004 and did Postdoctoral work from 2004 t0 2006 at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC Canada, and from 2006 to 2009 in the Dept. of Ecology and Evolution, Center for Insect Science, at the University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. He joined the faculty at UCCS in 2010. His research approach combines field and laboratory work on the behavior and ecology of certain study organisms, with molecular approaches that include methodologies from population genetics, molecular evolution, and genomics. At UCCS he has taught courses in Methods in Evolutionary Genetics, Evolution, Behavioral Ecology, and Senior Seminar