Gavin Sherlock, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor (Research)

Department of Genetics
School of Medicine
Stanford University
Stanford, California 94305-5120

Voice: 650-498-6012
Fax: 650-724-3701


Faculty Directory Listing
How to find us

The Sherlock Lab - Yeast Genomics and Evolution

The Sherlock lab is a yeast genomics lab, that uses both experimental laboratory approaches and computational approaches to characterize the yeast genome and its evolution. We are using a combination of microarray and ultra-highthroughput sequencing technologies to identify novel transcripts encoded by the yeast genome. In addition, we are using both long- and short-term continuous culture (chemostat) experiments to understand the changes in genome architecture and the transcriptome that occur in yeast in response to selective pressures as the yeast evolve in vitro. Using microarrays and sequencing, we are able to identify the underlying adaptive changes, and connect them to their phenotypic consequences. Finally, using traditional genetics and evolutionary engineering, the lab is working on developing novel yeast strains for biofuel production from the five carbon sugar xylose, which is the most abundant pentose on the planet. The goal is to eventually have yeast strains that will provide for a renewable energy source, and reduce carbon emissions.

In addition, the Sherlock lab is also involved in several database projects, running the Stanford Microarray Database, the Candida Genome Database, the Aspergillus Genome Database, The Tuberculosis Database, and SOURCE.

Finally, we also write software for the analysis and visualization of microarray data, including GO::TermFinder, Caryoscope, and GeneXplorer.

Recent Publications

1. Stambuk, B.U., Dunn, B., Alves, S.L. Jr., Duval, E.H., Sherlock, G. (2009). Industrial fuel ethanol yeasts contain adaptive copy number changes in genes involved in vitamin B1 and B6 biosynthesis. Genome Research 19, 2271-2278.
   
   
2. Lee, A., Hansen, K.D., Bullard, J., Dudoit, S. and Sherlock, G. (2008). Novel Low Abundance and Transient RNAs in Yeast Revealed by Tiling Microarrays and Ultra High-Throughput Sequencing Are Not Conserved Across Closely Related Yeast Species. PLoS Genet 4(12): e1000299.
   


3. Kao, K.C. and Sherlock, G. (2008). Molecular characterization of clonal interference during adaptive evolution in asexual populations of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Nature Genetics 40, 1499 - 1504.
   


4. Dunn, B. and Sherlock, G. (2008). Reconstruction of the genome origins and evolution of the hybrid lager yeast Saccharomyces pastorianus. Genome Research 18, 1610-1623.