Taylor Nystrom

Grad Student

About Taylor

Taylor started her research career many moons ago as a lab tech in the Condron lab here at UVA. Since then, she graduated with her bachelor’s from the University of Colorado - Boulder, worked at Columbia University building the INSITE collection of Gal4 lines, and taught middle school science and PE. Now she is back at UVA as a graduate student, working on a collaboration between the Siegrist and Bergland labs. She is interested in the effects of environmental factors on neurodevelopment in natural populations. When not playing with larvae in the lab, Taylor can be found climbing rocks, watering her plants, or finding excuses to buy more books.

Taylor's Projects

Evolution of neurodevelopmental programs

Neurogenesis, while genetically encoded, is also known to be influenced by environmental cues, including dietary nutrient availability. Natural populations of fruit flies, collected from different latitudes, show variation in developmental timing, neurogenesis, and brain morphology, as well as sequence variation in genes that play a role in neurogenesis.