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PUBLICATIONS

"Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us."

-Robin Wall Kimmerer

Indigenous partnerships:

2023 Black seaweed concerns promt Native groups, Scientists to meet, map out action plan, Sealaska Heritige Institute, (https://www.sealaskaheritage.org/node/1827)

2020 Genetic sex determination research featured in UCDavis News (July 17), “Archaeologists Use Tooth Enamel Protein to Show Sex of Human Remains” by Andy Fell, (https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/archaeologists-use-tooth-enamel-protein-show-sex-human-remains

2019 Alaska Native epigenomics research featured in Alaska Native News (Sep 25), “Second Phase of Epigenetics Study to Commence in Hoonah” by Amy Fletcher, (https://alaska-native-news.com/second-phase-of-epigenetics-study-to-commence-in-hoonah/44814/

 

Genomic advances publicity:

2023 Team streamlines DNA collection, analysis for elephant conservation. Illinois News Bureau, Diana Yates: (https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/934099707) & (https://www.labmanager.com/team-streamlines-dna-collection-analysis-for-wildlife-conservation-29580 )

2023 New DNA-collection method is harmless to wildlife. earth.com: nature, science, life, Andrei Lonescu: (https://www.earth.com/news/new-dna-collection-method-is-harmless-to-wildlife/)

2023 U of I researchers discovering new uses for biowaste, from elephant DNA to fuel production, WCIA (CBS affiliate): (https://www.wcia.com/news/u-of-i-researchers-discovering-new-uses-for-biowaste-from-elephant-dna-to-fuel-production/)

 2023 Quicker and affordable method of extracting DNA from elephant dung. AZO life sciences, Emily Henderson: https://www.azolifesciences.com/news/20230116/Quicker-and-affordable-method-of-extracting-DNA-from-elephant-dung.aspx)

2023 Innovation in elephant dung analysis offers endless benefits for conservation, The Daily Maverick, Shaun Smillie: (https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-01-12-innovation-in-elephant-dung-analysis-offers-endless-benefits-for-conservation/)

Shipwreck ivory publicity (complete list available upon request):

2020 Ancient shipwreck ivory research featured in The New York Times (Dec 17), “Ivory From Shipwreck Reveals Elephant Slaughter During Spice Trade” by Rachel Nuwer, (http://nyti.ms/3axLtHZ)

2020 Ancient shipwreck ivory research featured in BBC News (Dec 17), “Ivory: Elephant decline revealed by shipwreck cargo” by Victoria Gill, (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-55340975)

2020 Ancient shipwreck ivory research featured in Smithsonian Magazine (Dec 18) “Ivory From 16th-Century Shipwreck Yields Clues to African Elephants’ Decline” by Livia Gershon, (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/shipwreck-yields-clues-historic-ivory-trade-destruction-elephant-populations-180976589/

2020 Ancient shipwreck ivory research featured in UIUC News (Dec 17), “Study tracks elephant tusks from 16th century shipwreck” by Dianna Yates, (https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/329887546)

2020 Ancient shipwreck ivory research featured in AAAS Cell Press (Dec 17), “Shipwrecked ivory a treasure trove for understanding elephants and 16th century trading” by Cell Press, (https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-12/cp-si120920.php

2020 Ancient shipwreck ivory research featured in Science News (Dec 17), “Ivory from a 16th century shipwreck reveals new details about African elephants” by Maria Temming, (https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ivory-shipwreck-african-elephants-tusk-dna-bom-jesus?fbclid=IwAR3e5xIJyDz1W-OEXhcxHO17youaRq_z3FGA24XV6OhO7nVY7D3vG3XSs5I

2020 Ancient shipwreck ivory research featured in Daily Mail (UK) (Dec 17), “Hoard of ivory discovered on the wreck of a 16th century Portuguese trading vessel in southern Africa reveals forest elephants were already living in the savannah 500 years ago” by Jonathan Chadwick, (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9059927/Elephant-tusks-lost-ship-taken-African-forest-elephant-500-years-ago.html)

 

Wildlife conservation publicity:

2019 Loxodonta localizer research featured in UIUC News (Nov 1), “Online tool speeds response to elephant poaching by tracing ivory to source” by Diana Yates, (https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/804074)

2019 Loxodonta localizer research featured in Courthouse News Service (1 Nov), “Scientists Develop Elephant DNA Database to Thwart Ivory Poaching” by Carson McCullough, (https://www.courthousenews.com/scientists-develop-elephant-dna-database-to-thwart-ivory-poaching/)

2019 Loxodonta localizer research featured in IFLS (ND), “Origin Of Poached Ivory Traced Faster And Cheaper With New Software Tool” by IFLS, (https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/origin-of-poached-ivory-traced-faster-and-cheaper-with-new-software-tool/

2019 Loxodonta localizer research featured in Electronics360 (Nov 5), “Online tool uses mitochondrial DNA to stop elephant poaching” by Siobhan Treacy, (https://electronics360.globalspec.com/article/14281/online-tool-uses-mitochondrial-dna-to-stop-elephant-poaching

 

Blogs & Social Media:

2020 Ancient shipwreck ivory research featured in a blog by Medievalists.net, “Study tracks elephant tusks from 16th century shipwreck”, © Medievalists.net, (https://www.medievalists.net/2020/12/study-elephant-tusks-16th-century/)  

2020 Elephant research featured in Earth Touch (June 18), “What are these animals doing? Viral TikTok videos explained” by Melissa Cristina Márquez, 

 

Radio and Television:

2020 Ancient ivory research featured during a radio interview with BBC World Service programme Newshour 17Dec (feature segment ~38:50) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w172x2z33qb6rvk

2018 WILL-TV and PBS broadcast featuring the PBS show “Nature” Pangolins: (Nov) 

1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OizwBlStiY&feature=youtu.be

2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_KJAO5OADk&feature=youtu.be

3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0yGycRfVaE&feature=youtu.be

Recent Academic Journal Publications

  • Rogers-LaVanne, M.P., Bader, A., de Flamingh, A. […]  Ripan S. Malhi (2023; In Press) Association between gene methylation and experiences of historical trauma in Alaska Native Peoples. International Journal for Equity in Health.

  • Perrin-Stowe, T., Coon, J.J., Lynch, L.R., de Flamingh, A., Alexander, N.B., Golebie, E., Swartz, T.M., Bader, A.C., & Halsey, S.J. (2023) “Where do I even start?” Recommendations for faculty diversifying syllabi in the Life and Environmental Sciences. Ecology and Evolution, 13(1), e9719. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9719 ** top 5% of all research outputs (altmetric)

  • de Flamingh, A., Rivera-Colón, A. G., Gnoske, T. P., Kerbis Peterhans, J. C., Catchen, J., Malhi, R. S., & Roca, A. L. (2023). Numt Parser: Automated identification and removal of nuclear mitochondrial pseudogenes (numts) for accurate mitochondrial genome reconstruction in Panthera. Journal of Heredity, 114(2), 120-130. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esac065

  • de Flamingh, A., Ishida, Y., Pečnerová, P., Vilchis, S., Siegismund, H. R., Malhi, R. S., & Roca, A. L. (2023). Combining methods for non-invasive fecal DNA enables whole genome and metagenomic analyses in wildlife biology. Frontiers in Genetics, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2022.1021004 ** top 5% of all research outputs (altmetric)

  • Severson, A.L., Byrd, B.F., Mallott, E.K., Owings, A.C., DeGiorgio, M., de Flamingh, A., Nijmeh, C., Arellano, M., Leventhal, A., Rosenberg, N.A. & Malhi, R.S. (2022) Ancient and modern genomics of the Ohlone Indigenous population of California. PNAS: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119: e2111533119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2111533119 ** top 5% of all research outputs (altmetric)

  • Bautista, C., Alfuraiji, N., Drangowska-Way, A., Ganwani, K., de Flamingh, A. & Bourne, P. (2022) Ten simple rules for improving communication among scientists. PLOS Computational Biology 18.6:e1010130

  • Yarlagadda, K., Zachwieja, A., de Flamingh, A., Phungviwatnikul, T., Rivera-Colón, A., Roseman, C., Shackleford, L., Swanson, K., Malhi, R. (2022) Non-Western Canid Sampling Provides Novel Insights into Pre-Industrial Microbiomes. In Press, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

  • de Flamingh, A., Coutu, A., Sealy, J., Chirikure, S., Bastos, A.D.S., Libanda-Mubusisi, N.M., Malhi, R.S., Roca, A.L. (2021) Sourcing Elephant Ivory from a Sixteenth-Century Portuguese Shipwreck. Current Biology 31: 621-628, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.10.086

  • Buonasera, T., Eerkens, J., de Flamingh, A., Engbring, L., Yip, J., Li, H., Haas, R., DiGiuseppe, D., Grant, D., Salemi, M., Nijmeh, C., Arellano, M., Leventhal, A., Phinney, B., Byrd, B., Malhi, R.S. & Parker, G. (2020) A Comparison of Proteomic, Genomic, and Osteological Methods of Archaeological Sex Estimation. Scientific Reports 10:11897 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68550-w

  • Borthwick, R., de Flamingh, A., Hesselbarth, M., Parandhaman, A., Holland, J., Wagner, H.H., and Abdel Moniem, H.E. (2020) Alternative quantifications of landscape complementarity to model gene flow in Banded Longhorn Beetle (Typocerus velutinus velutinus). Frontiers in Genetics, 11: 307 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2020.00307

  • de Flamingh, A., Coutu, A., Chirikure, S., Roca, A.L. & Malhi, R.S. (2020) Accurate sex identification of ancient elephant and other animal remains using low coverage DNA shotgun sequencing data G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 10: 1427–1432,  DOI: https://doi.org/10.1534/g3.119.400833

  • Zhao, K., Ishida, Y., Green, C.E., Davidson, A.G., Sitam, F.A.T., Donnelly, C.L., de Flamingh, A., Perrin-Stowe, T.I.N., Bourgeois, S., Brandt, A.L., Mundis, S.J., van Aarde, R.J., Greenberg, J.A., Malhi, R.S., Georgiadis, N.J., McEwing, R. and Roca, A.L. (2019) Loxodonta Localizer: a software tool for inferring the provenance of African elephants and their ivory using mitochondrial DNA, Journal of Heredity 110 (7): 761-768 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esz058

  • de Flamingh, A., Roca, A.L. and van Aarde, R. (2018) Origin and phylogeography of African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) in Kruger and nearby parks in southern Africa. Conservation Genetics, 19:155-167 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-017-1005-z

  • de Flamingh, A., Malhi, R.S., Roca, A.L. (2018) Species identification and mitochondrial genomes of ancient fish bones from the Riverine Kachemak tradition of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. Mitochondrial DNA: Part B, 3: 409-411 DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/23802359.2018.1456371

  • de Flamingh, A., Sole, C.L. and van Aarde, R. (2015) Genetic evidence for spatial structuring in a continuous African elephant (Loxodonta africana) population, Conservation Genetics 16:613-623 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-014-0686-9

  • de Flamingh, A., Sole, C.L. and van Aarde, R. (2014) Microsatellite repeat motif and amplicon length affect amplification success of degraded faecal DNA. Conservation Genetics Resources, 6:503-505 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-014-0160-5

​Books & Book Chapters

  • van Aarde, R.J., de Flamingh, A., Fourie, J., Guldemond, R., Lee, T., Mole, M., Norgaard, C., Ntumi, C., Olivier, P., D’Araujo, S.R., Roever, C., Trimble, M., & Young, K. 2013. Elephants: A way forward. Conservation Ecology Research Unit, University of Pretoria and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Cape Town, South Africa. (https://issuu.com/ifaw/docs/a_way_forward_ceru-ifaw)

Selected Popular Media Coverage
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Wet-lab skills

  • Museum sample collection

  • DNA extraction (blood, tissue, fecal, saliva, hair, bone, teeth)

  • RNA extraction (blood)

  • Primer Design

  • Microsatellite panel design and optimization 

  • Microsatellite fragment analysis

  • Tagmentation library construction (Illumina)

  • Ancient DNA extraction

  • Ancient DNA library construction (NEB)

  • DNA Quantitation

  • Whole genome DNA fragment analysis

Field skills

  • Expedition planning

    • Field work in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa, Alaska (Anchorage, Juneau, Hoonah)

  • GPS and Cartography Navigation

  • All terrain driving skills

  • Project coordination

  • Small mammal trapping 

  • Invertebrate pit-fall trapping

  • Invertebrate Biodiversity Assessments

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Bioinformatic and other research skills

Coding languages

  • Python & Unix & R

Genomics

  • High-throughput data quality control and manipulation

  • Whole genome and mitochondrial genome alignment (e.g. BWA Bowtie2)

  • Phylogenetic analysis (e.g. maximum likelihood/Bayesian)

  • Metagenomic approaches (e.g. blastn & MEGAN)

  • Epigenomic analysis (ancient DNA - DamMet)

  • Low-coverage genome analysis (e.g. ANGSD)

  • Structure, PCA and Admixture analysis

Landscape genetic analysis:

  • R

  • Habitat Suitability Modeling (e.g. MaxEnt)

  • Geneland, Structure, BAPS

  • Least-cost Path, IBD, Circuitscape

  • MLPE modeling

  • ArcGIS (Advanced)

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