Rate My Professor Stephane Boissinot

Stephane Boissinot is Professor of Biology and Global Network Professor of Biology at New York University Abu Dhabi, where he joined in 2015. He directs the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology at NYUAD. Previously, he was Professor of Biology at Queens College, City University of New York from 2012 to 2014, Associate Professor from 2007 to 2012, and Assistant Professor from 2003 to 2007. Earlier positions include Visiting Fellow at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health from 1997 to 2002, Faculty at the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences from 2000 to 2002, and Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas, Houston from 1994 to 1996 under Wen-Hsiung Li. Boissinot received his PhD from Université Montpellier II in 1994 with a thesis on allele phylogeny and gene flow in the house mouse, a Master in Evolution and Ecology from the same university in 1991, and a Bachelor in organism and population biology in 1990.

An evolutionary biologist, Boissinot uses field-based, molecular, and computational approaches to investigate the evolution of genome size and structure, innate resistance to viral infection, and biogeography of East African vertebrates. His doctoral work focused on house mouse evolution, postdoctoral research covered color vision evolution in primates and mobile DNA elements in humans. Selected publications include "The genome of the green anole lizard and a comparative analysis with birds and mammals" in Nature (2011), "The evolution of Line-1 in vertebrates" in Genome Biology and Evolution (2016), "Differential Effect of Selection against LINE Retrotransposons among Vertebrates" (2018), and studies on diversification of Ethiopian tree frogs and viper horn evolution (2022). Boissinot has secured grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and PSC-CUNY, including a $310,000 NIH award for population genomics of non-LTR retrotransposons in vertebrates (2011-2014) and a $568,000 NSF award for mentoring undergraduates (2007-2012). His work has advanced understanding of transposable element dynamics and phylogeographic patterns in vertebrates.