Using the tools of genetics and genomics, nearly 6,000 GSA members from more than 50 countries around the world investigate a wide variety of biological questions and applications.
A new method called topology weighting provides a visual summary of evolutionary relationships across the genome. This figure summarizes the relationships among 18 individual Heliconius butterflies from five distinct populations across a one million base-pair region of their genome. Each color represents a different tree of relationships among the populations. The strong excess of reddish colors in the middle of the region is due to an adaptive introgression event, in which a beneficial wing patterning allele from one species was acquired by another through hybridization, making these two species more closely related in this part of the genome than in other parts. Topology weighting could be used to explore the genomes of other species for similar signals. See Martin and Van Belleghem, pp. 429–438.
Education
Education plays a vital role at every career stage. That’s why GSA has partnered with organizations that are dedicated to providing tools and programs for students and faculty alike. From education workshops to classroom materials, a range of resources enable members of our scientific community to share, collaborate, and learn together, strengthening our collective network and skills.
Enrich your coursework with primary literature.
Primers in GENETICS make it easier for instructors to use cutting-edge research to demonstrate core competencies in the classroom.
Many instructors want to use effective, evidence-based methods in their classrooms. But sometimes they need help getting started with these techniques. The Promoting Active Learning and Mentoring (PALM) network is helping to close this gap by providing grants to connect faculty and postdocs with mentors in active learning methods.
CBE-Life Sciences Education (LSE) publishes peer-reviewed articles covering a breadth of life science education topics at the K-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels, making it a valuable resource for educators across many levels and disciplines.
Looking for a reliable way to develop your undergraduate classes? Check out the Genetics Learning Framework, a list of vetted core concepts and learning objectives compiled by the GSA Education Committee.
Are you looking for inspiration for your genetics course? GSA PREP is a collection of laboratory and in-class exercises that use evidence-based teaching methods. Each of these resources was peer-reviewed and fits into the Genetics Learning Framework.
Guest post by Erin Vinson, University of Maine and Michelle Smith, Cornell University Are you teaching genetics and looking for some new ideas? Check out CourseSource, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal that publishes field-tested articles describing...
Guest post by CourseSource Editor-in-Chief Michelle Smith and Managing Editor Erin Vinson. In partnership with Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER) meeting, CourseSource is hosting an ONLINE Writing Studio Short Course. We have switched to an online...
Guest post by Abha Ahuja, Assistant Professor of Natural Sciences at Minerva Schools at KGI. As on-campus meetings for laboratory courses are canceled, you might be wondering if you’ll be able to meet your goals in...