Jeremy Wideman

I was trained as a cell biologist investigating mitochondrial protein import in Frank Nargang’s lab at the University of Alberta. I feel at home in the land of protein extractions, differential centrifugation, and western blots. My postdoctoral research with Joel Dacks took me into the brave new world of protist genomics and eukaryotic evolution and diversity. An EMBO long-term fellowship sent me to Exeter, UK with Tom Richards where my long-term infatuation with LECA began to deepen and solidify. I was also introduced to the pleasures of single-cell genomics of heterotrophic flagellates and the incredible benefits of British ale. Prior to coming to ASU, I engaged in pleasant argumentation with Ford Doolittle about the concept of function in biology on this side of the Atlantic, at Dalhousie in Halifax. Here at ASU, my goal is to synthesize my scientific and philosophical interests into a single research program aimed at uncovering a cell biological understanding of eukaryotic diversity. Therefore, my research program combines cell and molecular biology with evolutionary genomics and protistology in order to explain the similarities and differences observed across eukaryote diversity.