Belatedly, I am a plant systematist at The Morton #Arboretum, with active projects in #oaks (#phylogenetics / #phylogenomics, #hybridization, #introgression, genetic and functional #diversity), #prairies (effects of #phylogenetic and functional diversity on #restoration outcomes), #sedges (#genome and #chromosome evolution), and other plant groups. I also tweet on #botany and #NaturalHistory of the #Chicago region and other areas. Meet my lab at: https://systematics.mortonarb.org

#Introduction post: I'm an associate professor of #biology at #KyotoUniversity, studying #chromosome dynamics during #meiosis in #nematodes especially #Caenorhabditis_elegans. I enjoy #naturalphilosophy, #philosophyofmind, #chess, #linux, and Japanese calligraphy (#書道).

Here are the chromosomes I study — the maternally- and paternally-derived chromosomes have paired along their lengths and are now undergoing recombination.

On the usefulness of the #SelfishGene metaphor popularized by #RichardDawkins in an eponymous #book:

"An Idea With Bite", Aeon (https://aeon.co/essays/why-the-selfish-genes-metaphor-remains-a-powerful-thinking-tool).