College of Medicine
Hopkins Lab
Led by Ben R Hopkins · Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
What we study
The Hopkins Lab studies how the identities of animal organs and cell types are written in the genome and how they evolve, working mostly in insects, especially fruit flies (Drosophilidae). It combines gene regulatory network reconstruction, comparative genomics, genome editing and single-cell 'omics.
What working here is like
- Wet lab
- Computational
- Fruit flies
- Coding helps
- Papers
- 5
Recent papers, explained
- Temporal gating of sex-specific apoptosis shapes the sexually dimorphic brain
2026 · Cell Genomics
Explains how programmed cell death in the fruit fly brain creates differences between male and female brains.
- Metabolic and developmental rate divergence between serially homologous cells underlies an evolutionary innovation in Drosophila
2026 · PLoS Biology
Examines how metabolic and developmental changes in fruit fly cells lead to evolutionary innovations.
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- Regulatory changes in the fatty acid elongase eloF underlie the evolution of sex-specific pheromone profiles in Drosophila prolongata
2025 · BMC Biology
Studies genetic changes in a fatty acid enzyme that affect sex-specific pheromones in a fly species.
- A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult Aedes aegypti mosquito
2025 · Cell
Creates a detailed map of cell types in mosquito tissues using single-nucleus RNA sequencing.
- Molecular evolution of octopamine receptors in Drosophila
2025 · G3 Genes Genomes Genetics
Investigates how octopamine receptors evolved in different Drosophila species.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
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