Courtney Passow received a Grand Challenges in Biology Postdoctoral Program Fellowship of the University of Minnesota. She will start her postdoctoral fellowship this fall upon graduating from the Biology Ph.D. program. She will primarily be working with blind Mexican cavefish (Astyanax mexicanus), investigating how organisms adapt to nutrient and light-poor cave environments. In particular, Courtney will be utilizing new technological and theoretical tools to identify changes in gene co-expression networks between cave and surface populations and test whether divergent co-expressed nodes are also under direct selection. Courtney will conduct this work in collaboration with Dr. Suzanne McGaugh (Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota) and Dr. Peter Tiffin (Department of Plant Biology, University of Minnesota).
The Grand Challenges in Biology Postdoctoral Program fosters collaborations between postdoctoral researchers and faculty interested in multidisciplinary research that address societally relevant problems. Postdoctoral researchers develop a 2-year research project under the guidance of faculty advisors at College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota. The fellowship includes a stipend of $46,000 a year plus benefits and $5,000 per year for research supplies and research related travel. The fellowship is potentially renewable for a third year.