Rate My Professor Janna Fierst

Fierst's research employs computational approaches to investigate genome evolution across organisms, including theoretical modeling, bioinformatics, and comparative genomics. Her lab examines how life is organized and changes, focusing on projects such as inferring biological networks for cold tolerance in bumblebees, bioinformatic decontamination of genome sequences, reproductive mode effects on horizontal gene transfer in nematodes, mathematical models of structural variant mutations, and mutation size and frequency variation. She has received major funding, including an NSF CAREER award (2020-2026) on reproductive mode and horizontal gene transfer in nematodes, an NIH/NIGMS R35 grant (2022-2027) on structural variants and evolution, and an NIH/NIA project (2024-2029) on aged host-virus interactions. Key publications include 'Reproductive Mode and the Evolution of Genome Size and Structure in Caenorhabditis Nematodes' (PLoS Genetics, 2015), 'Using linkage maps to correct and scaffold de novo genome assemblies: methods, challenges, and computational tools' (Frontiers in Genetics, 2015), 'Genome Size Changes by Duplication, Divergence, and Insertion in Caenorhabditis Worms' (Molecular Biology and Evolution, 2023), and 'Dauer fate in a Caenorhabditis elegans Boolean network model' (PeerJ, 2023). Her work advances understanding of evolutionary processes in complex traits and genomic architectures.