Melissa A. Wilson is an evolutionary and computational biologist and assistant professor at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

who studies the evolution of sex chromosomes.

Personal life and education

Wilson was born in

Stillwater, Oklahoma Stillwater is the tenth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, and the county seat of Payne County, Oklahoma, Payne County. It is located in north-central Oklahoma at the intersection of U.S. Route 177#Oklahoma, U.S. Route 177 and Oklahoma S ...

, and lived there until she was five, then moving to

Garland, Texas Garland is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located within Dallas County, Texas, Dallas County with portions extending into Collin County, Texas, Collin and Rockwall County, Texas, Rockwall counties. It is located northeast of Dallas and is a ...

, then

Tempe, Arizona Tempe ( ; ''Oidbaḍ'' in O'odham language, O'odham) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2020 population of 180,587. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in t ...

, then to

Syracuse, Nebraska Syracuse is a city in Otoe County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 1,957 at the 2022 census. History Syracuse was laid out in 1869 when it was certain that the railroad would be extended to that point. The community was named after ...

. She graduated from Syracuse High School in Nebraska and received her B.S. in Medical Mathematics with Honors in May 2005 from

Creighton University Creighton University () is a private research university in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In 2015 the university enrolled 8,393 graduate ...

under Lance Nielsen. She received her Ph.D. in integrative biology at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

under her thesis advisor Kateryna Makova in 2011. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship under Rasmus Nielsen at UC Berkeley in 2014. She was professionally known as Melissa A. Wilson Sayres from 2010 until her divorce from Scott Sayres, a physical chemist, in 2019. Together they have one daughter.

Career

Wilson is an assistant professor of genomics, evolution, and bioinformatics at

. There she is PI of the Sex Chromosome Lab, where she studies

genome evolution Genome evolution is the process by which a genome changes in structure (sequence) or size over time. The study of genome evolution involves multiple fields such as structural analysis of the genome, the study of genomic parasites, gene and ancient ...

, mutation rate variation, and

population history Demographic history is the reconstructed record of human population in the past. Given the lack of population records prior to the 1950s, there are many gaps in our record of demographic history. Historical demographers must make do with estimates, ...

. One finding of her lab is that crossing over between the X and

Y chromosomes The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes in therian mammals and other organisms. Along with the X chromosome, it is part of the XY sex-determination system, in which the Y is the sex-determining chromosome because the presence of the Y c ...

occurs in some regions of the chromosomes more often than was previously thought. Another discovery is that the Y chromosome is not decreasing in size, which contradicts previously publicised claims that the Y chromosome might disappear. She also discovered evidence of a Y chromosome

population bottleneck A population bottleneck or genetic bottleneck is a sharp reduction in the size of a population due to environmental events such as famines, earthquakes, floods, fires, disease, and droughts; or human activities such as genocide, speciocide, wid ...

in human history. Wilson hypothesised that a possible explanation for this was partially cultural, saying "“Instead of ‘survival of the fittest’ in a biological sense, the accumulation of wealth and power may have increased the reproductive success of a limited number of ‘socially fit’ males and their sons.” The lab uses the

Gila monster The Gila monster (''Heloderma suspectum'', ) is a species of venomous lizard native to the Southwestern United States and the northwestern Mexico, Mexican state of Sonora. It is a heavy, slow-moving reptile, up to long, and it is the only ve ...

as a

model organism A model organism is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workings of other organisms. Mo ...

to understand the evolution of sex chromosomes. As part of her research, she started a crowdfunding campaign which successfully raised over $10,000 to sequence the Gila monster's DNA. She has referred to the animals as "cool" and "lovable." Wilson holds one patent for tumor treatments, and is the developer of several software packages, including XYalign, for accurately aligning sex chromosomes, and TumorSim, for simulating tumor heterogeneity.

Science communication

Wilson is active in public outreach. She is a regular on the ASU "Ask a Scientist" podcast and has been interviewed by the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

Smithsonian Magazine ''Smithsonian'' is a magazine covering science, history, art, popular culture and innovation. The first issue was published in 1970. History The history of ''Smithsonian'' began when Edward K. Thompson, the retired editor of ''Life'' magazine ...

, and the

Pacific Standard ''Pacific Standard'', founded as ''Miller–McCune'', was an American nonprofit magazine that reported on issues of social and environmental justice. Founded in 2008, the magazine was published in print and online for its first ten years. It was ...

, among others, as an expert on genetics. She has also publicly spoken out against the use of science to justify

white supremacy White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

and

transphobia Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender or transsexual people, or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not conform to socia ...

, and against the maltreatment of victims of sexual assault.

Publications and awards

Selected publications

* * * *

Selected awards

Source: * 2019 Awardee, Mary Lyon Award, International Mammalian Genome Society * 2018 Awardee, SMBE Allan Wilson Junior Award for Independent Research * 2018 Awardee Zebulon Pearce Distinguished Teaching Award, Arizona State University * 2010 First Place Award, Genome Research poster competition at CSH: The Biology of Genomes * 2008 Women In Science and Engineering Outstanding Service Award * 2006 The Pennsylvania State University NSF GRFP Incentive Award * 2005 Creighton University Outstanding Mathematician Award

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Melissa A. Arizona State University faculty Creighton University alumni Eberly College of Science alumni 21st-century American biologists American women evolutionary biologists Computational biologists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Women computational biologists American evolutionary biologists