Christopher K. Ellison Postdoc Associate Shaw Lab Cornell University Tower Road W319 Seeley G. Mudd Hall Ithaca, New York 14853 Email: cke7@cornell.edu Phone: 607 254-4326 Fax: 607 254-1303

Research Interests:

I am broadly interested in the evolutionary dynamics of the speciation process. In the laboratory, I use molecular biology tools to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms contributing to species divergence and isolation. My dissertation research focused on nuclear-mitochondrial integration in the marine copepod Tigriopus californicus and the functional and regulatory consequences of the failure of this integration in interpopulation hybrids. I am currently working with Kerry Shaw and studying the genetic basis of mate recognition in the Hawaiian cricket genus Laupala. Ultimately, we hope to identify and characterize mate recognition loci to better understand the evolution of prezygotic isolation in the genus.

Publications:

Ellison, C.K.*, O. Niehuis*, and J. Gadau. Dysfunction of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation in hybrids of the parasitoid wasp Nasonia. J. Evo.l Biol. 21:1844-1851. *Authors contributed equally to this work.

Ellison, C.K. and Burton, R.S. 2008. Genotype-dependent variation of mitochondrial transcriptional profiles in interpopulation hybrids. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 105(41):15831-15836.

Ellison, C.K. and Burton, R.S. 2008. Hybrid breakdown maps to the mitochondrial genome. Evolution. 62:631-638.

Burton, R.S., Ellison C.K., and Harrison J.S. 2006. The sorry state of F2 hybrids: Consequences of rapid mitochondrial DNA evolution in allopatric populations. Am. Nat. 168:S14-S24.

Ellison, C.K. and Burton, R.S. 2006. Disruption of mitochondrial function in interpopulation hybrids of Tigriopus californicus. Evolution. 60:1382-1391.

Ellison, C.K. and Burton, R.S. 2005. Application of bead array technology to population dynamics of marine phytoplankton. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 288:75-85.