Rate My Professor Janna Fierst

Janna Fierst is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida International University. She completed her BA in Biology at Pomona College in California, followed by an MS in Marine Ecology at California State University, Northridge. Fierst earned her PhD in evolutionary theory and computational modeling at Florida State University. She conducted postdoctoral training at the University of Oregon, where she developed expertise in genomics and bioinformatics. From 2015 to 2021, she served as faculty at the University of Alabama, receiving promotion and tenure in 2021. She joined Florida International University in 2022.

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.