معرفی
Christina Burch is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on the genetics of adaptation using bacteriophage systems, with additional affiliations to the Curriculum in Genetics & Molecular Biology.
She obtained her undergraduate degrees in Biology and Mathematics from the University of Maryland and her PhD in Genetics from the University of California, San Diego. She conducted postdoctoral work at Princeton University and the University of Idaho before joining UNC's faculty.
Research Interests
- Genetics of adaptation through experimental evolution
- Evolution of sex and genetic architecture
- Host range expansion and virus speciation
- Thermal adaptation mechanisms
- RNA secondary structure evolution
Affiliations
- Department of Microbiology & Immunology
- Curriculum in Genetics & Molecular Biology
Publications Trends
Her recent work explores genetic drift's role in speciation, complexity's impact on horizontal gene transfer, and population structure's influence on sex in gene networks. Earlier studies examine dominance effects, RNA structure, and thermal adaptation. Research spans bacteriophages (phi-6, phiX174, T7) and medically relevant viruses like HIV and Hepatitis C.
Lab Members
- Current: Steven Mayer, Addie Schlacter, Blair Blakeney, Karla Cordova, Mila Ortiz, Attia Dean
- Former: Kayla Peck, Alexander Whitlock, Lisa Bono, Artur Romanchuk, Martin Ferris, Sarah Joseph
Teaching
- Biology 201: Ecology and Population Biology
- Biology 471: Evolutionary Mechanisms
