Acquisition of a Molecular Primatology DNA Analysis System

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With National Science Foundation Support, Dr. Todd Disotell and his colleagues in the New York University Department of Anthropology will purchase an ABI 3730 DNA Analysis System and a BioRad iCycler iQ Real-Time PCR Detection System, along with support equipment. The key features of this instrumentation upgrade are the improvement in efficiency of data accumulation and an improvement in the kinds of evolutionary questions which can be addressed. The sequence analysis system is the latest generation high throughput capillary sequencer and genotyper, which will become the workhorse data acquisition instrument used in the group's laboratory's projects. It will permit accumulation of sequence data at five times the rate possible with the current equipment at less than half of the cost. The PCR detection system will be central to the laboratory's increasing use of ancient and degraded DNA recovered from archaeological materials, museum specimens, and biological detritus such as hair or feces. All of these sample types yield low quality and quantity DNA but clearly provide an unprecedented promise for addressing novel questions from such sources. Much of the support equipment will be used in a new facility being developed in the Anthropology Department's DNA Extraction Facility, including PCR work-station hoods and UV decontamination lighting. Disotell's focus to date has been on catarrhine (Old World monkey and ape) systematics, population genetics, and conservation genetics. Di Fiore has similar interests and project involving New World monkeys. Jolly collaborates closely with Disotell in research involving population genetics and phylogeography of Old World monkeys, especially baboons. Di Fiore, Disotell, and Jolly also use molecular techniques to test and develop hypotheses about primate behavior, social and mating systems, and dispersal patterns. Anton will be bringing her expertise in modern human origins by supplying materials and hypotheses to be tested utilizing ancient DNA. This instrumenation will greatly facilitate all of the above research programs. Numerous undergraduates and New York City area high school students carry out their honors research projects in the laboratory. Interns from the Departments of Anthropology and Biology at NYU, Howard Hughes Summer Research Fellows, Columbia University and CUNY graduate students who are members of the IGERT funded New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP), as well as foreign colleagues and their students train and do research projects in conjunction with the NYU faculty. Interns in the MA program in skeletal biology and forensics directed by Anton will also train and carry out research projects in the molecular facilities. The data collected by this instrumentation and hypotheses being tested have a broader impact beyond the field of anthropology. The training of individuals from high school through the post-doctoral level is an equally important component of our research and academic program. The research carried out at NYU ties in with biomedical research (e.g. evolutionary biology of the SIV/HIV viruses and their host species) and applied conservation efforts (e.g. assessing genetic variation in highly endangered species such as lion tamarins in Brazil and chimpanzees and gorillas in West Africa).