Assistant Professor Education Education: Education Ph.D. (2014-2019) Duke University Postdoc (2020-2025) University of Chicago Research Research Areas: Evolutionary Genetics Genomics and Bioinformatics Molecular Genetics Research Interests: I am interested in how natural selection has shaped genetic and phenotypic variation within and between species. I am particularly enthusiastic about questions related to gene-by-environment interactions. How has the response to environmental perturbations evolved? What are the underlying gene regulatory mechanisms and causal genetic variants? Which of these changes are adaptive? My research addresses these questions in the context of how humans and other primates respond to infectious diseases. However, I am broadly interested in the evolution of complex traits and gene-by-environment interactions across the tree of life Grants: NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, NHGRI: Genomic basis of variation in the transcriptional response to pathogens among primates. March 2024-February 2029. Emory Primate Research Center Pilot Research Program: Genetic variation in the response to yellow fever in non-human primates. May 2022-April 2023. NIH F32 Ruth B Kirschstein NRSA Fellowship, NIGMS: Characterizing variation and adaptation in the immune response to plague (Y. pestis) through single-cell sequencing and ancient genomics. February 2021 – January 2024. Selected Publications Selected Publications: 2022. Klunk and Vilgalys, et al. Evolution of immune genes is associated with the Black Death. Nature 611, 312–319. 2022 Vilgalys and Fogel, et al. Selection against admixture and gene regulatory divergence in a long-term primate field study. Science 377(6606): 635-641.
