CHES Graduate Affiliate
- Becca DeCamp
- Advisor: Christina Bergey
- Focus Area: Non-Human Primates
- Email: rmd222@scarletmail.rutgers.edu
- ACADEMIC BIOGRAPHY:
I graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Anthropology from Boston University in Spring 2020. My undergraduate honors thesis research focused on the evolution of the olfactory sensory system in primates, particularly in strepsirrhines. I joined the Rutgers Department of Anthropology in Fall 2020.
- CURRENT PROJECTS:
Currently I am working on developing methods to look at differential selection in genes related to sperm form and function between primates with different mating systems. I will also be looking at whether parallel selection has targeted these genes in Malagasy primates that independently evolved group-living multimale-multifemale and monogamous mating systems from anthropoids.
I am also working on a project looking at the evolution of genes that interact with the SARS-CoV2 virus in primates, and how evolution in these genes could be implicated in SARS-CoV2 infection susceptibility.
- RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Primate genomics, post-copulatory sexual selection, Malagasy primates, mammalian sexual diversity
I am interested in the evolution and expression of genes related to sperm form and function in lemurs. Particularly, I am interested in how these genes evolve differently in primates with different mating systems. Lemurs are of special interest because of their unique evolutionary history, and their convergent evolution of group-living multimale-multifemale and monogamous mating systems.
