Courtney C. Babbitt
Associate Professor of Biology and Commonwealth Honors College
Lab Mor2 364
Education
Education:
B.A., Columbia University, 1999
Ph.D., University of Chicago, 2005
Postdoctoral:
Duke University, 2006 - 2013
Professional Bio and Publications
Research Interests:
Evolutionary Genomics
My research is in evolutionary genomics and I am interested in changes in gene regulation over evolutionary time that impact phenotypic change. In particular, I investigate the evolution of cis-regulatory elements, the evolution of gene expression, and noncoding RNA at a genome-wide scale. I am also interested in functionally testing specific rapidly evolving cis-regulatory regions. My current research addresses these essential questions in evolutionary biology as they relate to genetic and phenotypic differences between humans and non-human primates. I integrate both computational and experimental approaches to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the functional changes involved in regulatory evolution and how they contribute to phenotypic evolution.
Representative Publications:
Rickelton, K., Zintel, T.M., Pizzollo, J. , Ely, J.J., Raghanti, M.A, Hopkins, W.D., Hof, P.R., Sherwood, C.C., Bauernfeind, A.L, Babbitt, C.C. 2024. Tempo and mode of gene expression evolution in the brain across the primate tree. eLife 13:e70276. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.70276.
Zintel, T.M. , Pizzollo, J. , Claypool, C.G. , Babbitt, C.C. 2024. Neural cell type specific differences in metabolic gene expression between humans and chimpanzees Genome Biology and Evolution. 16(1), evad239, https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evad239.
Huber, B., Babbitt, C.C., Peyton, S.R. 2024. Heterogeneity of Brain Extracellular Matrix and Astrocyte Activation. Journal of Neuroscience Research. 2024;102:e25356.
Pizzollo, J. , Zintel, T.M., Babbitt, C.C. 2022. Enhancer activity and evolution in human and chimpanzee neural progenitor cells and neurons. Genome Biology and Evolution. Vol.14: 8, evac108.
Schwartz, A.D., Adusei, A, Moskaluk, C.A, Schneider, S.S., Platt, M.O., Seifu, D., Pey ton.S.R., Babbitt, C.C. 2021. Genetic Mutations Associated with Hormone-Positive Ethiopian Breast Cancer. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 49: 1900–1908.
Bauernfeind, A.L. and Babbitt, C.C. 2020. Metabolic changes in human brain evolution. Evolutionary Anthropology. 2020; 1– 12. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21831
Brinkworth, J.F. * and Babbitt, C.C. 2020. Immune system promiscuity in human and non-human primate evolution. Human Biology 90(4):251-269.
Bauernfeind, A.L and Babbitt, C.C. Genetic diversity underlying behavioral plasticity in human adaptation. 2019. “Evolution of the Human Brain: From Matter to Mind”. Ed. M. Hoffman, Elsevier. Progress in Brain Research, Volume 250. Pg. 41-58. Invited Chapter.
Pizzollo, J. , Nielsen, W.J., Shibata, Y., Safi, A., Crawford, G.E., Wray, G.A., Babbitt, C.C. (2018). Comparative genomic analysis of the response to a serum challenge in human and chimpanzee fibroblasts. Genome Biology and Evolution 10(3): 826–839.
Babbitt, C.C., Haygood, R., Nielsen, W., Wray, G.A. (2017). Gene expression and adap- tive noncoding changes during human evolution. BMC Genomics 18: 435-455.
Bauernfeind, A.L. & Babbitt, C.C. (2017). The predictive nature of transcript expression levels on protein expression in adult human brain BMC Genomics 18: 322. doi:10.1186/s12864-017-3674-x