My background
After a few early years in Jerusalem, I moved to the suburbs of Detroit, where I grew up. I had a great time as an undergrad at the College of the Atlantic where I got excited about evolution and did research at the Jackson Lab. I then moved to Indiana University, to pursue a Ph.D. in evolutionary genetics with Mike Wade and Leonie Moyle, and later to UC Davis’ Center for Population Biology as a postdoc with Graham Coop and Michael Turelli. I am now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. I study issues related to speciation, plant mating system evolution, population genomics, genomic conflicts, and the overlap between these areas. For more information on my research, visit my lab webpage.
Collaborators
One of my favorite parts of science is that I get to develop ideas with smart and engaged people across the world. My current, past, and (hopefully) future collaborators include: Graham Coop, Michael Turelli, Leonie Moyle, Mike Wade, Boris Igic, Stephen Wright, Jeremiah Busch, Dena Grossenbacher, Ryan Briscoe Runquist, Mike Barker, David Haig, Jeremey van Cleve, Franscisco Ubeda, John Wilkins, Chris Muir, Kevin Flurkey and Jason Wolf. As these guys are pretty great, I recommend looking through their pages and publications
Extracurricular interests
I enjoy playing basketball, racquetball and squash. I also like square dancing [click here and here for me in action]
Contact info:
Department of Plant Biology
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
232 Cargill building
1500 Gortner avenue
St. Paul, MN 55108
Phone: 612-624-4375
Fax: 612-624-6264
email: ybrandvain – at – gmail – dot – com
