Professor Jon Slate
Tel: +44 (0) 114 222 0048
Fax: +44 (0) 114 222 0002
email : j.slate@sheffield.ac.uk
Career
BSc (1992) Manchester University
Graduate RA (1992-95) University of Cambridge
PhD (2000) University of Edinburgh
Royal Society Travel Fellowship/Postdoctoral Scientist (2000-02) AgResearch, New Zealand
Lecturer (2002-05) University of Sheffield
Senior Lecturer (2005-08) University of Sheffield
Reader in Evolutionary Genetics (2008-12) University of Sheffield
Professor of Evolutionary Genetics (2012-) University of Sheffield
Key Research Interests
- Genetic architecture and evolution of fitness traits in wild populations
- Genome mapping
- Inbreeding & inbreeding depression
Professional Activities
Associate Editor, Molecular Ecology (2005-)
Editorial Board, Journal of Evolutionary Biology (2007-)
NERC Peer Review College (2004-08)
Erskine Fellow, University of Canterbury (2006)
NERC Fellowship Panel (2008)
BBSRC Expert Panel on Next Generation Sequencing (2009-10).
BBSRC Pool of Experts (2011-)
The Genetics Society Committee, Area D - Applied and quantitative genetics (2011-)
Scientific Committee, European Society of Evolutionary Biology conference (Lisbon 2013).
Invited speaker Gordon Research Conference on Quantitative Genetics & Genomics. Galveston, Texas, USA (Feb 2011)
Plenary Speaker Population Genetics Group Conference. Hull, UK (Jan 2011)
Invited Speaker Symposium of Ecology and Evolution Doctoral Students. Lausanne, Switzerland (Nov 2010)
Keynote speaker Evolutionary Potential in Wild Populations meeting. Denmark (April 2010)
European Society of Evolutionary Biology, keynote speaker in symposium on Ecological genetics in the genomics era. Turin, Italy (2009)
Plenary speaker EGI Field Ornithology Conference, University of Oxford (2008)
Plenary speaker ESF Workshop – Ecological Genomics in Conservation Biology. Sweden (2007)
Invited Expert Speaker, Volkswagen Foundation Workshop. Tutzing, Germany (2006)
European Society for Evolutionary Biology, keynote speaker in symposium on Evolutionary dynamics of phenotypic traits in wild populations. Cracow, Poland (2005)
Teaching
I am currently on Teaching Leave (until 2013). However, I have played a key role in developing and delivering evolutionary genetics and genomics modules in APS. At Level 1, I developed, taught on and coordinated APS125 (Genes in Populations). This module describes the fundamentals of how genetic variation is inherited, and illustrates its importance in most areas of biology including human medicine, evolution, conservation biology and agriculture. At Level 2 I co-developed two practical modules, APS264 (Wildlife Forensics) and APS267 (Comparative Genomics), both of which provide training in using modern genomics approaches to address biological problems. I usually supervise a Level 4 student, with most projects combining an element of molecular population genetics with a genomics/bioinformatics approach, typically addressing an evolutionary genetics problem in a wild vertebrate population. I teach bioinformatics techniques to Level 4 students on APS405 (Advanced Biological Training).
Research Group
Anna Santure (ERC)
Postdoc - Evolutionary genetics in a ‘classical’ avian study system
Isabelle de Cauwer (ERC)
Postdoc - Evolutionary genetics in a ‘classical’ avian study system
Kang-Wook Kim (BBSRC)
Postdoc - Finding the genes that determine variation in sperm morphology and motility
Jocelyn Poissant (NSERC)
Postdoctoral fellowship – Sexually antagonistic selection in great tits
Emily Brown (BBSRC)
PhD student - Selection and evolution of parasite resistance genes in a free-living mammal population
Jenny Armstrong (NERC)
PhD student – Genetics and genomics of laying date in great tits
Sanad Alfudhala (Kuwaiti government)
PhD student - Population structure and parasite resistance genetics in the Egyptian spiny mouse
Rachel Tucker (NERC and other sources)
Research Technician – SNP genotyping on various evolutionary genetic projects
Lola Brookes (BBSRC)
Graduate RA - Finding the genes that determine variation in sperm morphology and motility
Example Publications
SE Johnston, JC McEwan, NK Pickering, JW Kijas, D Beraldi, JG Pilkington, JM Pemberton & J Slate (2011). Genome-wide association mapping identifies the genetic basis of discrete and quantitative variation in sexual weaponry in a wild sheep population. Molecular Ecology 20: 2555-2566
R Rodríguez-Muñoz, A Bretman, J Slate, CA Walling & T Tregenza (2010). Natural and sexual selection in a wild insect population. Science 328: 1269-1272
WC Warren, DF Clayton, H Ellegren, AP Arnold & 56 others, J Stapley, J Slate, R Ekblom, T Birkhead, T Burke & 17 Others (2010) The genome of a songbird. Nature 464: 757-762
J Slate, AW Santure, PGD Feulner, EA Brown, AD Ball, SE Johnston & J Gratten (2010) Genome mapping in intensively studied wild vertebrate populations. Trends in Genetics 26: 275-284
J Stapley, TR Birkhead, T Burke & J Slate (2010) Pronounced inter and intra-chromosomal variation in linkage disequilibrium across the zebra finch genome. Genome Research 20:496-502
AW Santure, J Stapley, AD Ball, TR Birkhead, T Burke & J Slate (2010) On the use of large marker panels to estimate inbreeding and relatedness: empirical and simulation studies of a pedigreed zebra finch population typed at 771 SNPs. Molecular Ecology 19:1439-51
J Stapley, TR Birkhead, T Burke and J Slate (2008) A linkage map of the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata provides new insight into avian genome evolution. Genetics 179:651-667
J Gratten, AJ Wilson, AF McRae, D Beraldi, PM Visscher, JM Pemberton and J Slate (2008) A localized nagative genetic correlation constrains microevolution of coat color in wild sheep. Science 319:318-320
J Gratten, D Beraldi, BV Lowder, AF McRae, PM Visscher, JM Pemberton & J Slate (2007). Compelling evidence that a single nucleotide polymorphism in TYRP1 is responsible for coat colour polymorphism in a free-living population of Soay sheep. Proc. R. Soc. Lond B. 274: 619-626
J Slate, P David, KG Dodds, BA Veenvliet, BC Glass, TE Broad & JC McEwan (2004). Understanding the relationship between the inbreeding coefficient and multilocus heterozygosity: theoretical expectations and empirical data. Heredity 93:255-265