Wendy Aquino Nunez
- Postdoc, Unckless Lab
Contact Info
Biography —
Hometown: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Education —
Research —
My project focuses on understanding the natural occurrence of B chromosomes in Drosophila putrida. B chromosomes are non-essential chromosomes found in an array of organisms that include plants, insects, and humans. Numerous human conditions result from aberrant chromosome formation; these conditions can lead to adverse health outcomes such as infertility and developmental delay. The main goal is to use the advantages of Drosophila as a model system to further understand how B chromosomes naturally occur, their effect on an organism's fitness, and how B chromosomes are maintained within a population.
Selected Publications —
Aquino Nunez, W., Scott, M. C., & Morgan, D. E. (2025). Metacognitive mapping: developmental biology students struggle with higher-order cognitive skills in multiple course formats. Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, e00139-24.
Aquino Nunez, W., Combs, B., Gamblin, T. C., & Ackley, B. D. (2022). Age-dependent accumulation of tau aggregation in Caenorhabditis elegans. Frontiers in aging, 3, 928574.
Aquino-Nunez, W., Mielko, Z. E., Dunn, T., Santorella, E. M., Hosea, C., Leitner, L., ... & Hudson, M. L. (2020). cnd-1/NeuroD1 functions with the homeobox gene ceh-5/Vax2 and hox gene ceh-13/labial to specify aspects of RME and DD neuron fate in Caenorhabditis elegans. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 10(9), 3071-3085.