Blue Genes and Boots

Blue Genes and Boots

The Texas A&M Genetics Program has a podcast! Blue Genes & Boots is a podcast series where faculty and students talk about the fun science going on right here at Texas A&M University. Graduate students also share insights on how to pursue a PhD and jump-start a career in science. Find Blue Genes & Boots on social media @GeneticsPodcast TAMU Genetics Program Website: https://genetics.tamu.edu/ Blue Genes and Boots YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@geneticspodcast

Episodes

July 2, 2025 41 mins

In this episode, Veronika talked to Dr. Matthew Moulton. Dr. Moulton is an associate professor in the Department of Biology at Texas A&M. He received his Bachelor's at Brigham Young University and his PhD at the University of Utah. His lab focuses on delineating the molecular mechanisms of genes associated with neurological disease, especially Alzheimer’s disease by utilizing the genetic model organism, Drosophila melanoga...

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In this episode, Veronika and Sam spoke with Dr. Dmitry Kurouski. Dr. Kurouski is an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Texas A&M University. He received his Bachelor's and Master of Science at the Belarussian State University and his PhD at the State University of New York at Albany. His lab focuses on many different topics, from lipids in neurodegeneration, plant diseases, nanostructu...

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April 30, 2025 30 mins

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone!

In this episode Anthony talked to Sarah Ingram, a 4th-year PhD candidate in the Interdisciplinary Genetics program at Texas A&M, a US Navy veteran, and a 2024 Tillman Scholar. She returned to academia after 9 years of military service and received her undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University- Texarkana. Currently, she studies under Dr. Shaunna Clark in the Department of Psychi...

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Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone!

In this episode, Charles spoke with Dr. Matt Sachs. Dr. Sachs is a professor in the Department of Biology at Texas A&M University who received his Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Cornell University and PhD in Biology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research focuses on the mechanisms controlling protein synthesis, such as in Neurospora crassa. Dr. Sachs is also a pr...

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February 26, 2025 53 mins

Howdy, and welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! 

In this episode Sam and Veronika spoke with third year GENE students, and newly minted PhD candidates, Emmarie Alexander and Tyler Chan. Emmarie came to our program from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and she currently studies under Dr. William Murphy. Tyler previously attended The University of Alabama - Huntsville, and he now studies under Dr. Zachary Adelman. 

...

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January 29, 2025 41 mins

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone!

In this episode, Veronika talks to Dr. R. Graham Reynolds. Dr. Reynolds is an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of North Carolina Asheville and an associate at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. He received his B.A. in Biology from Duke University and his PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Dr. R...

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Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone!

In this episode, Sarah talked to two speakers from the 2024 Genome Editing Symposium at Texas A&M: Dr. Paul Christou and Dr. Makoto Saito. Dr. Christou is an ICREA research professor at Universitat de Lleida (UdL) Life and Medical Sciences. Dr. Saito is a senior scientific fellow conducting post-doctoral research in Dr. Feng Zhang’s lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology McGov...

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December 1, 2024 52 mins

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone!


In this episode, Anthony talks to Dr. George Church. Dr. Church is a Robert Winthrop Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and founding Core Faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. He received his PhD in ...

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October 30, 2024 49 mins

Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone!

In this episode, Samantha and Sarah talk to Dr. Qing Sun, one of our Genetics and Genomics Faculty members. Dr. Sun is an assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. She received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware and did her postdoctoral training at the Synthetic Biology Center at MIT. Her lab uses...

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Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone!

In this episode, Sarah and Veronika talk to Dr. Seth Murray. Dr. Murray is a professor in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences and Eugene Butler Endowed Chair in Agricultural Biotechnology at Texas A&M University. He received his B.S. in Crop and Soil Science at Michigan State University and Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics at Cornell University. His research focuses on the bree...

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August 28, 2024 39 mins

Howdy, and welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Sarah spoke with four undergraduates from universities across the county who participated in our Summer Undergraduate Research in Genetics and Genomics (SURGe) program.

The National Science Foundation SURGe Program is a 10-week intensive research experience under the mentorship of one of our Faculty of Genetics and Genomics members that includes a 3-cred...

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Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots everyone! In this episode, Anthony Matarazzo speaks with Veronika Mojik and Charles Mitchell, two current PhD students in the TAMUGENE program.

Veronika obtained her undergraduate degree from The University of North Carolina - Asheville and studies under Dr. Hubert Amrein. Charles' undergraduate studies were completed at The University of Texas - Dallas, and he is advised by Dr. Dmitry...

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July 8, 2024 35 mins

In this episode Veronika Mojik talks with third year PhD candidate Mayra Mendoza about what it's like to traverse graduate school while being a mom to two boys! They also discuss Mayra's research on the alpaca genome and the in's and out's of running a cytogenetic service lab within an academic setting. 

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Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone!

In this episode, Emmarie and Sarah talk to Dr. Jessica Light, a professor and curator of mammals in the Ecology and Conservation Biology department at Texas A&M University. She received her B.S. in Biology and Resource Ecology and Management at the University of Michigan and her Ph.D. in Zoology at Louisiana State University. Her lab uses molecular and morphological data to study the ev...

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Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone!

In this episode, Emmarie and Veronika talk to Dr. Harmit Malik, a professor and associate director of the Basic Science Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington. He received his BTech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Rochester. His lab studies the evolution of genetic conflict in Drosophila,...

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Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone!

In this episode, Emmarie and Serina talk to Dr. Bruce Walsh. Dr. Walsh is an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor at the University of Arizona. He earned his Ph.D. in genetics at the University of Washington and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago and the University of California, Davis. His research uses mathematical models to better understand the evolution of gen...

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Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone!


In this episode, Emmarie and Serina talk to Dr. Adam Phillippy. Dr. Phillippy is the director of the Center for Genomics and Data Science Research and the head of the Genome Informatics Section at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). His research focuses on developing computational tools for genomic analysis, such as genome assembly. His team has developed many widely ...

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Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone!


In this episode, Khushboo and Sarah talk to Lilia Sanchez. Lily is a postdoctoral researcher who successfully defended her dissertation in Fall 2023! She is in Dr. Weston Porter’s lab where she has studied mitochondria and mammary gland development. 


If you want to know more about the Genetics program at Texas A&M or the research discussed in this episode, please visit the foll...

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Welcome to Blue Genes and Boots, everyone!


In this episode, Serina talks to Dr. Anne-Ruxandra Carvunis. Dr. Carvunis is a computational and systems biology assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She earned her PhD in Bioinformatics from the University of Grenoble and was awarded the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award in 2019. Her research focuses on the mechanisms behind changes during evolution...

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Howdy everyone! In this episode, Joe and Anthony interview guests from Texas A&M’s 2023 Genome Editing Symposium. Dr. Matt Burg is a researcher at Solid Biosciences and Dr. Washington da Silva is a researcher at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station within the Department of Plant Pathology and Ecology, where he specializes in the diagnosis, bioinformatic analysis, and molecular biology of viruses that infect crops. He...

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