Daniel Hassell

Daniel is an MCDB graduate student in Dr. Shelley Copley's lab, where he studies expression of newly acquired genes in bacteria. Bacteria routinely share genes by horizontal gene transfer, but transferred genes are unlikely to arrive into a new genome with adequate expression regulation. He wants to know how expression efficiency improves for newly acquired genes that provide some selective benefit to the recipient. He hopes his work will help describe processes that, in part, drove the evolution of life on Earth.