|  Education:
B.S. in Entomology 1996 University of Wisconsin, Madison
Ph.D.
2003 University of Iowa (successfully defended 10
April 2003).
Now at Tuscon, Arizona.
Research Interests:
In a broad sense,
I study interactions among genomes. For my Ph.D. dissertation, I studied the interactions
between Drosophila simulans and their bacterial symbionts Wolbachia.
Therefore, I studied the interaction between three distinct genomes ( host nuclear,
host mitochondrial, and Wolbachia). Wolbachia manipulate host
reproduction and may cause significant genetic subdivision among mitochondrial,
but not nuclear, host genomes. I investigated this phenomenon among five populations
in east Africa. I also asked what fitness consequences arose after artificially
associating a singe Wolbachia genome with genetically distinct host backgrounds,
using microinjection techniques coupled with population cage experiments.
Publications in Ballard Lab:
Dean,
M. D. and Ballard, J. W. O. In press. Linking phylogenetics with poplulation
genetics to reconstruct the geographic origin of a species. Mol. Phylo. Evol.
Dean,
M. D., K. J. Ballard, A. Glass, and J. W. O. Ballard. In press. Influence
of two Wolbachia strains on population structure of east African Drosophila
simulans. Genetics 16: 159-169.
James, A.C., M. D. Dean, M. E.
McMahon, and J. W. O. Ballard. 2002. Dynamics of double and single Wolbachia infections
in Drosophila simulans from New Caledonia. Heredity 88: 182-189. Ballard,
J.W.O. and M. D. Dean. 2001. The mitochondrial genome: mutation,
selection and recombination. Curr. Opin. Genet. Devel. 11: 667-672. Dean,
M.D. and Ballard, J.W.O. 2001. Factors affecting mitochondrial DNA quality
from museum preserved Drosophila simulans. Entomol. Exp. et App. 94:
279-283. Teaching Experience: 2003: Roosevelt University,
Genomics.
2003. Woods Hole Workshop on Molecular Evolution, TA
1998. History
of Life (BioSci 335)
1998. Invertebrate Zoology (BioSci 270)
1997. Genetics
(BioSci 220 and 221)
1997. Introductory Biology (BioSci 101)
1996. Ecology
Laboratory (BioSci 330)
Awards: 2001. The Lester
Armour Graduate Fellowship. ($14,000)
1998-1999. TA-of-the-year award,
Additional Skills:
Website design (see www.fieldmuseum.org/bugcamp)
Microsoft Access programming, voice entry databasing
C/C++ programming and
simulation | 
