Kirsten Isabel Verster
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Education
- PhD Candidate, University of California - Berkeley, 2016-present
- B.S. Zoology, University of Florida. 2014.
- B.A. Spanish literature, University of Florida. 2014.
Background
I grew up in Miami, FL, a humid and exceptionally unique place with drowsy alligators and friendly manatees. I sought out a diverse set of research experiences as an undergraduate that have led me all over the United States - I've searched for spiders in the Puerto Rican rainforest, chased angry wasps in Michigan, and grappled with trout in a Wyoming fish hatchery in pursuit of data.
While most of us are familiar with vertical transfer (e.g. I get genes from my father and mother), I find horizontal gene transfer (HGT) - exchanging genes between species - far more compelling. Imagine if you ate a jellyfish and the next day you glowed in the dark and had poisonous stingers! The prevalence of HGT in natural history, and its ability to suddenly create incredible phenotypes in animals, is becoming more apparent every year. I am currently studying HGT of cytolethal distending toxin B in drosophilids in the Integrative Biology Department at University of California - Berkeley.
I'm particularly interested in the genetic and molecular basis of exciting adaptive phenotypes. Evolution has naturally created solutions to every conceivable problem: extreme cold (ice-binding proteins); extreme heat (heat shock proteins); toxic foods (monarchs sequester cardiac glycosides); inability to see (echolocation). Even extreme environments like Antarctica are abundant with life! I think the budding fields of genomics is a wide-open playground to investigate all the ways nature adapts to problems. Applied researchers can utilize this knowledge to advance human causes.
In my free time, I love dancing salsa, watching Caso Cerrado, and hanging out with my dog, Pooch (who has been trained to bark, play dead, high five, and jump on command).
While most of us are familiar with vertical transfer (e.g. I get genes from my father and mother), I find horizontal gene transfer (HGT) - exchanging genes between species - far more compelling. Imagine if you ate a jellyfish and the next day you glowed in the dark and had poisonous stingers! The prevalence of HGT in natural history, and its ability to suddenly create incredible phenotypes in animals, is becoming more apparent every year. I am currently studying HGT of cytolethal distending toxin B in drosophilids in the Integrative Biology Department at University of California - Berkeley.
I'm particularly interested in the genetic and molecular basis of exciting adaptive phenotypes. Evolution has naturally created solutions to every conceivable problem: extreme cold (ice-binding proteins); extreme heat (heat shock proteins); toxic foods (monarchs sequester cardiac glycosides); inability to see (echolocation). Even extreme environments like Antarctica are abundant with life! I think the budding fields of genomics is a wide-open playground to investigate all the ways nature adapts to problems. Applied researchers can utilize this knowledge to advance human causes.
In my free time, I love dancing salsa, watching Caso Cerrado, and hanging out with my dog, Pooch (who has been trained to bark, play dead, high five, and jump on command).
Research Interests
Functional genetics, adaptation, toxins, gene editing
For a summary of my current research project, please see the following Youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ChPxINTCg
Please contact me for a current CV.
For a summary of my current research project, please see the following Youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ChPxINTCg
Please contact me for a current CV.
Teaching
- Graduate Remote Instruction Innovation Fellow, 2020.
- MCB104, Spring 2020.
- Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, 2019.
- IB164, Fall 2019.
- Field Genomics (short course), Summer 2019
- MCB104, Spring 2016.
Publications
Verster, K.I., J.H. Wisecaver, R.P. Duncan, M. Karageorgi, A.D. Gloss, E. Armstrong, D.K. Price, A.R. Melon, Z.M. Ali, N.K. Whiteman. Horizontal transfer of bacterial cytolethal distending toxin B genes to insects. 2019. Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Karageorgi, M. K., Groen, S.C., Sumbul, F., Pelaez, J. N., Verster, K. I., Aguilar, J. M., Hastings, A. P., Bernstein, A. P., Bernstein, S. L., Matsunaga, T., Astourian, M., Rico, F. Dobler, S., Agrawal, A. A., Whiteman, N.K. Genome editing retraces the evolution of toxin resistance in the monarch butterfly. Nature.
Gloss, A.D., A.C. Nelson Dittrich, R.T. Lapoint, B. Goldman Huertas, K. I. Verster, J. N. Pelaez, A.D.L. Nelson, J. M. Aguilar, E. E. Armstrong, J. L. M. Charboneau, S. C. Groen, D. H. Hembry, C. J. Ochoa, T. K. O’Connor, S. Prost, H. C. Suzuki, S. Zaaijer, P. D. Nabity, N. K. Whiteman. Evolution of herbivory revealed in a Drosophila genomes. bioRxiv: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/767160v1.abstract. In preparation.
Karageorgi, M. K., Groen, S.C., Sumbul, F., Pelaez, J. N., Verster, K. I., Aguilar, J. M., Hastings, A. P., Bernstein, A. P., Bernstein, S. L., Matsunaga, T., Astourian, M., Rico, F. Dobler, S., Agrawal, A. A., Whiteman, N.K. Genome editing retraces the evolution of toxin resistance in the monarch butterfly. Nature.
Gloss, A.D., A.C. Nelson Dittrich, R.T. Lapoint, B. Goldman Huertas, K. I. Verster, J. N. Pelaez, A.D.L. Nelson, J. M. Aguilar, E. E. Armstrong, J. L. M. Charboneau, S. C. Groen, D. H. Hembry, C. J. Ochoa, T. K. O’Connor, S. Prost, H. C. Suzuki, S. Zaaijer, P. D. Nabity, N. K. Whiteman. Evolution of herbivory revealed in a Drosophila genomes. bioRxiv: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/767160v1.abstract. In preparation.
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