Hopi Hoekstra
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Danielle "Hopi" Elisabeth Hoekstra (born 1972) is an
evolutionary biologist Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes such as natural selection, common descent, and speciation that produced the diversity of life on Earth. In the 1930s, the discipline of evolutionary biol ...
working at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
, where she is Dean of the
Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences The Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) is the largest of the ten faculties that constitute Harvard University. Headquartered principally in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and centered in the historic Harvard Yard, FAS is the only faculty respo ...
. Her lab uses natural populations of rodents to study the genetic basis of adaptation. She is the C.Y. Chan Professor of Arts and Sciences and the Xiaomeng Tong and Yu Chen Professor of Life Sciences in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University. She is also the Curator of Mammals at the Museum of Comparative Zoology and a Harvard College Professor. In 2014, Hoekstra became a
Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...
Investigator. In 2016, she was elected to the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
, and in 2017, she was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
. Hoekstra became the Edgerley Family Dean of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences in August 2023.


Early life

Hoekstra was born to a family of Dutch ancestry. Hoekstra's first name "Hopi" is derived from a Dutch term of endearment. Hoekstra attended Los Altos High School in California. She attended college at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
, where she initially intended to study
political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
. She has stated that at one point she wanted to become the U.S.
ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...
to the Netherlands, but she was drawn into biology by a class on
biomechanics Biomechanics is the study of the structure, function and motion of the mechanical aspects of biological systems, at any level from whole organisms to Organ (anatomy), organs, Cell (biology), cells and cell organelles, using the methods of mechani ...
taught by Robert J. Full. She went on to work in Full's lab, studying the biomechanics of animal locomotion. One factor for choosing UC Berkeley was that she wanted to play Pac10 volleyball, which she did for two years.


Career

Hoekstra received her B.A. in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. Before her graduate studies, she researched
grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horr ...
s for a year in Yellowstone National Park. She obtained her Ph.D. in
Zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...
as a Howard Hughes Predoctoral Fellow at the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
. For her postdoctoral work, she studied the genetic basis of adaptive melanism in pocket mice at the
University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
. In 2003, she became an assistant professor at the
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...
. In 2007, she moved to
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
, where she received tenure in 2010. She has served on the advisory board of several foundations (e.g. Searle Scholars Program, Max Plank Society), magazines (''Scientific American'', ''Quanta'') and journals (''PNAS'', ''Current Biology'', ''PLoS Genetics'', ''Development'', ''bioRxiv''). In June 2023, she was named as the Dean of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, succeeding
Claudine Gay Claudine Gay (born August 4, 1970) is an American political scientist who is the Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government and of African and African-American Studies at Harvard University. Her research focuses on American political behavior, inc ...
, who had assumed the University's presidency a month prior. Hoekstra assumed office on August 1, 2023.


Research

Hoekstra spent her scientific career working to understand the fundamental processes by which organisms, including humans, differ in the natural world. She capitalizes on natural variation in non-traditional model organisms, most notably the deer mouse, a system she pioneered. Her work is characterized by its an interdisciplinary approach, utilizing both field and lab experiments. Her laboratory’s overarching research strategy is to use tools from genetics, development and neuroscience to discover novel mechanisms by which evolution shapes biodiversity and, conversely, to use biodiversity as a tool to reveal general principles in biology. Based on this work, she has been featured in ''National Geographic'' and profiled in the ''New York Times''.


Behavioral Genetics

Hoekstra is best known for studying the genetic mechanisms that influence the evolution of highly complex natural behaviors. In 2013, Hoekstra published an article in the journal ''
Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...
'' on the genetics of burrowing behavior in two sister species of ''Peromyscus'' mice; the
oldfield mouse The oldfield mouse, oldfield deermouse or beach mouse (''Peromyscus polionotus'') is a nocturnal species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is a species of the genus ''Peromyscus'', a closely related group of New World rats and mice, New Wor ...
(''P. polionotus''), which builds elaborate burrows complete with an escape tunnel, and the deer mouse (''P. maniculatis''), which builds a simple and shallow nest. Using a combination of behavioral assays and classical genetic strategies, Hoekstra and her students identified four regions of
DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
which control the length of the tunnels dug by the mice. Trainees in her lab have also identified a specific gene that affects parental behavior and also are genetically dissecting variation in other behaviors such as vocalization and skilled motor behavior.


Color Adaptation

Hoekstra started her career studying the evolution of mouse fur color and its significance for
adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...
. She was among the first to identify a specific DNA mutation and directly link it to fitness in the wild, a result found in many modern textbooks. In 2013, her team published an article in the journal ''
Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
'', describing how coat color in mice was controlled by nine separate mutations within a single gene, named "agouti." Speaking about this discovery, Hoekstra said, "The question has always been whether evolution is dominated by these big leaps or smaller steps. When we first implicated the agouti gene, we could have stopped there and concluded that evolution takes these big steps as only one major gene was involved, but that would have been wrong. When we looked more closely, within this gene, we found that even within this single locus, there are, in fact, many small steps." Her work supports the hypothesis that
evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
can occur through incremental changes. Recently, Hoekstra has found evidence linking the mutation the Agouti gene to survival in mice. More specifically, the study showed how a sequence variant in the Agouti gene changes the phenotype and then linked those changes to changes in population allele frequency, demonstrating evolution of trait by natural selection. More recently, her lab has discovered the developmental origins of complex color patterns.


Honors and awards

*2022 Awarded the
Lowell Thomas Award Lowell Jackson Thomas (April 6, 1892 – August 29, 1981) was an American writer, broadcaster, and documentary filmmaker. He authored more than fifty non-fiction books, mostly travel narratives and popular biographies of explorers and military ...
* 2021 Elected as a Fellow to the American Association for the Advancement of Science * 2019 Awarded the Hart Merriam Award * 2018 Elected to the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
* 2017 Elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
* 2016 Elected to the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
* 2015 Richard Lounsbery Award,
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
* 2006 Beckman Young Investigator Award, Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation * 2003 Jasper J. Loftus-Hills Young Investigator Prize,
American Society of Naturalists The American Society of Naturalists (ASN) was founded in 1883 and is one of the oldest professional societies dedicated to the biological sciences in North America. The purpose of the Society is "to advance and diffuse knowledge of organic evoluti ...
* 1998 Ernst Mayr Award,
Society of Systematic Biologists The Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB) started as the Society of Systematic Zoology in 1947. A temporary constitution was adopted at the first meeting on 28 December 1947. The updated "biologists" organization (from "zoology") became incorpor ...


Family

Hoekstra lives in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
, with her son and her husband, James Mallet. Mallet is also an evolutionary biologist at Harvard.


Selected publications

* Hager, Emily R.; Harringmeyer, Olivia S.; Wooldridge, T. Brock; Theingi, Shunn; Gable, Jacob T.; McFadden, Sade; Neugeboren, Beverly; Turner, Kyle M.; Jensen, Jeffrey D.; Hoekstra, Hopi E. (2022-07-22). "A chromosomal inversion contributes to divergence in multiple traits between deer mouse ecotypes". ''Science''. 377 (6604): 399–405. doi:10.1126/science.abg0718.
ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit to uniquely identify a periodical publication (periodical), such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs a ...
 1095-9203. PMC 9571565.
PMID PubMed is an openly accessible, free database which includes primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of ...
 35862520. * Barrett, Rowan D. H.; Laurent, Stefan; Mallarino, Ricardo; Pfeifer, Susanne P.; Xu, Charles C. Y.; Foll, Matthieu; Wakamatsu, Kazumasa; Duke-Cohan, Jonathan S.; Jensen, Jeffrey D.; Hoekstra, Hopi E. (2019-02-01). "Linking a mutation to survival in wild mice". ''Science''. 363 (6426): 499–504. doi:10.1126/science.aav3824.
ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit to uniquely identify a periodical publication (periodical), such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs a ...
 1095-9203.
PMID PubMed is an openly accessible, free database which includes primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of ...
 30705186. * Bendesky, Andres; Kwon, Young-Mi; Lassance, Jean-Marc; Lewarch, Caitlin L.; Yao, Shenqin; Peterson, Brant K.; He, Meng Xiao; Dulac, Catherine; Hoekstra, Hopi E. (2017-04-27). "The genetic basis of parental care evolution in monogamous mice". ''Nature''. 544 (7651): 434–439. doi:10.1038/nature22074.
ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit to uniquely identify a periodical publication (periodical), such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs a ...
 1476-4687. PMC 5600873.
PMID PubMed is an openly accessible, free database which includes primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of ...
 28424518. * Mallarino, Ricardo; Henegar, Corneliu; Mirasierra, Mercedes; Manceau, Marie; Schradin, Carsten; Vallejo, Mario; Beronja, Slobodan; Barsh, Gregory S.; Hoekstra, Hopi E. (2016-11-24). "Developmental mechanisms of stripe patterns in rodents". ''Nature''. 539 (7630): 518–523. doi:10.1038/nature20109.
ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit to uniquely identify a periodical publication (periodical), such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs a ...
 1476-4687. PMC 5292240.
PMID PubMed is an openly accessible, free database which includes primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of ...
 27806375. * * * Manceau, Marie; Domingues, Vera S.; Mallarino, Ricardo; Hoekstra, Hopi E. (2011-02-25). "The developmental role of Agouti in color pattern evolution". ''Science''. 331 (6020): 1062–1065. doi:10.1126/science.1200684.
ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit to uniquely identify a periodical publication (periodical), such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs a ...
 1095-9203.
PMID PubMed is an openly accessible, free database which includes primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of ...
 21350176. * * Linnen CR, Kingsley EP, Jensen JD, Hoekstra HE. On the origin and spread of an adaptive allele in deer mice. Science. 2009 Aug 28;325(5944):1095-8
doi: 10.1126/science.1175826
PMID 19713521; PMCID: PMC2736094. * *


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoekstra, Hopi 1972 births Living people Harvard University faculty Women evolutionary biologists University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Washington alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Howard Hughes Medical Investigators Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the American Philosophical Society Richard-Lounsbery Award laureates Scientific American people