Jessica R. Grant
54 Audubon Road
Leeds, MA 01053
P: 413-218-3906 E: jessica@pixelshrub.com
POSITIONS HELD
2011-
Smith College, Northampton MA
Research Associate
2005-2011
Smith College, Northampton MA
Research Assistant
1995-2001
Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, MA
Research Associate, Core Sequencing Facility
EDUCATION
M.S.
B.S.
Smith College, Northampton MA, May 2014
M.S. in Biology
Thesis subject: A phylogenomic pipeline and its use inferring lateral
gene transfer in the eukaryotic parasite, Entamoeba histolytica
University of Washington, Seattle WA, 1994
Cum Laude in Mathematics
Phi Beta Kappa, 1994
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
 Symposium on New Methods for Phylogenomics and Metagenomics. University of
Texas, Austin TX, 2013
 Next Generation Sequencing Data Management. CHI Conference, Providence RI, 2010
 Making Sense of Next-Gen Sequencing Data. CHI Short Course, Providence RI, 2010
 Computational Phyloinformatics Summer Course. NESCent, Durham NC, 2008
 Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD, Bioinformatics, online program. 2006-2009
Relevant courses: Molecular Biology, Practical Computer Concepts for Bioinformatics,
Phylogenetics and Comparative Genomics
RELEVANT SKILLS
Laboratory
PCR, PCR troubleshooting, qPCR, cloning, sequencing, Sanger and 454 sequence analysis, DNA
extraction and purification, RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis, Southern hybridization, primer
design, protocol optimization.
Computational
Operating Systems: Mac OSX, UNIX.
Proficient or familiar with BLAST, RAxML, PhyML, MrBayes, DNAStar, Sequencher,
ClustalW, HMMer, Guidance, Galaxy, OrthoMCL, Blast2GO, Perl, Python, and Biopython.
UNDERGRADUATE MENTORING
Training of undergraduates in molecular and bioinformatics techniques and support of their
scientific development. Techniques include PCR, cloning, sequencing, data analysis (i.e. in
MacClade, Paup, DNAStar, MrBayes, RaxML) and Python programming.
PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
Grant J.R., Katz LA. Building a Phylogenomic Pipeline for the Eukaryotic Tree of Life –
Addressing Deep Phylogenies with Genome-Scale Data. PLOS Currents Tree of Life. 2014
Apr 2. Edition 1. doi: 10.1371/currents.tol.c24b6054aebf36.02748ac042ccc8f2e9.
Grant, J.R., Lahr, D.J.G, Rey, F.E., Gordon, J.I., Knight, R., Molestina, R.E., and L. A. Katz.
Gene discovery in the transcriptomes of three diverse microbial eukaryotes: Corallomyxa
tenera, Chilodonella uncinata, and Subulatomonas tetraspora. Submitted.
Katz, LA, LW Parfrey, J. R.Grant, JG Burleigh. 2012. Turning the crown upside down: gene
tree parsimony roots the eukaryotic tree of life. Syst Biol.
Lahr, D. J. G., Grant, J. R., Nguyen, T., Lin, J.H. and L. A. Katz. 2011. Comprehensive
Phylogenetic Reconstruction of Amoebozoa Based on Concatenated Analyses of SSUrDNA
and Actin Gene. PLOS One. 6(7).
Katz, L. A., Grant, J. R., Parfrey, L. W., Gant, A., O'Kelley, C. J., Anderson, O. R., Molestina,
R. E. & Nerad, T. 2011. Subulatomonas tetraspora nov. gen. nov. sp. is a member of a
previously unrecognized major clade of eukaryotes. Protist.
Lahr, D. J. G., E. Barbero, J. R. Grant, and L.A. Katz. 2011. Evolution of the actin gene family
in testate lobose amoebae (Arcellinida) is characterized by 2 distinct clades of paralogs and
recent independent expansions. Mol. Biol. Evol. 28(1):223-36
Parfrey, L. W., J. R. Grant, Y. I. Tekle, E. Lasek-Nesselquist, H. G. Morrison, M. L. Sogin, D. J.
Patterson, and L. A. Katz. 2010. Broadly sampled multigene analyses yield a well-resolved
eukaryotic tree of life. Syst. Biol.
Tekle, Y. I., Grant J.R., Kovner, A., L.A. Katz. 2010. Identification of new molecular markers
for assembling the eukaryotic tree of life. Mol Phylogenet Evol.
Cole J., Andersen O.R., Tekle Y. I., J.R. Grant, Katz L. A., and T. Nerad. 2010. A description of
a new ‘Amoebozoa’ isolated from the American Lobster, Homarus americanus. J. Euk.
Micro.
Grant J.R., Tekle, Y.I., O.R. Anderson, Patterson D.J., and L.A. Katz. 2009. Multigene evidence
for the placement of a heterotrophic amoeboid lineage Leukarachnion sp. among
photosynthetic stramenopiles. Protist. 160: 376—385.
Tekle, Y.I., J.R. Grant, L. O.R. Anderson, J.C. Cole, T. Nerad, and L.A. Katz. 2008.
Phylogenetic placement of diverse amoebae inferred from multigene analyses and assessment
of clade stability within ‘Amoebozoa’ upon removal of varying rate classes of SSU-rDNA.
Mol. Phylo. Evol. 47: 339-352.
Yoon, H-S, J.R. Grant, Y.I. Tekle, M. Wu, B.C. Chao, J.C. Cole, J.M. Logsdon, D.J. Patterson,
D. Bhattacharya, and L.A. Katz. 2008. Broadly sampled multigene tree of eukaryotes. BMC
Evol Biol. 8: 14.