A constructivist’s search for the truth about eukaryotic cells

Or, how to use a liberal arts education to complicate and enrich your life.

The Last Eukaryote Common Ancestor (LECA) existed 2 billion years ago. LECA had all the bells and whistles of the complex cells found in animals, plants and fungi. In Jeremy Wideman's lab, they use single-cell genomics, spatial proteomics, and ancestral state reconstruction to shed light on LECA's characteristics. In this presentation, Jeremy will present some of the work that they have been doing in the Wideman lab to determine the nature of LECA.

About the Speaker

Jeremy Wideman ('05 BSc, '12 PhD) earned his undergraduate degree (biology) from Augustana and his PhD from the U of A (genetics & microbiology). Since then he has pursued post-doctoral work on the evolution of cells in the UK, Germany and finally Dalhousie University. In 2019 he finally landed that elusive tenure track position as assistant professor in the Center for Mechanisms of Evolution at Arizona State University.