Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics and Biochemistry
Email: mkonkel@clemson.edu
Biosketch
Miriam Konkel received an M.D. from the Charité, Humboldt University in December 2000. She completed part of her residency in Pediatrics at the Emil von Behring Hospital, Heckeshorn and at the Charité, Universtätsmedizin Berlin, Germany. Miriam Konkel continued her residency in Internal Medicine with emphasis on Infectious Diseases in the Department of Gastroenterology, Rheumatology, and Infectious Diseases at the Charité, Universtätsmedizin Berlin, Germany. In 2005, Miriam Konkel joined Louisiana State University as a postdoctoral researcher. In 2011 she became an assistant professor for research at LSU. Miriam Konkel joined Clemson University in January 2017 as an assistant professor in the Department of Genetics and Biochemistry. She is a member of the Clemson University Center for Human Genetics; a CUSHR (Clemson University School of Health Research) Scholar (since May 2017); and a BDSI (Biomededical Data Science and Informatics) core faculty member (since June 2018). In May 2018, Miriam Konkel received the URSAAA (University Research, Scholarship and Artistic Achievement Award) award.
Research
My laboratory centers upon primate genomics with focus on genome-mobilome interactions. We are interested in how genomes evolve with respect to mobile elements, and how mobile elements evolve over time. Moreover, we are intrigued by observations that the fate of mobile elements varies in different primate lineages. Much of this work has been collaborative as part of international genome consortia. While most mobile elements are neutral residents in genomes and dead upon arrival, some will be able to propagate, contribute to genome expansion, and be implicated in disease.
Toward enhanced interaction with large genomics datasets we are working on the development of cyberphysical genomics interfaces. We are working within interdisciplinary teams to develop new approaches for data interaction. Toward this, we are investigating different interaction modalities integrating tablets, interactive walls, and tangible user interfaces. Our goal is to provide interfaces to a wide range of target groups: from domain experts to lay people, and from bioinformaticians to counselors and patients.
Publications
Casanova EL and Konkel MK. 2020. The developmental gene hypothesis for punctuated equilibrium: Combined roles of developmental regulatory genes and transposable elements. Bioessays 42: e1900173. doi: 10.1002/bies.201900173.
Rogers J, Raveendran M, Harris RA, Mailund T, Leppälä K, Athanasiadis G, Schierup MH, Cheng J, Munch K, Walker JA, Konkel MK, Jordan V, Steely CJ, Beckstrom TO, Bergey C, Burrell A, Schrempf D, Noll A, Kothe M, Kopp GH, Liu Y, Murali S, Billis K, Martin FJ, Muffato M, Cox L, Else J, Disotell T, Muzny DM, Phillips-Conroy J, Aken B, Eichler EE, Marques-Bonet T, Kosiol C, Batzer MA, Hahn MW, Tung J, Zinner D, Roos C, Jolly CJ, Gibbs RA and Worley KC. 2019. The comparative genomics and complex population history of Papio baboons. Sci Adv 5: eaau6947. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aau6947.
Storer JM, Mierl JR, Brantley SA, Threeton B, Sukharutski Y, Rewerts LC, St Romain CP, Foreman MM, Baker JN, Walker JA, Orkin JD, Melin AD, Phillips KA, Konkel MK and Batzer MA. 2019. Amplification dynamics of Platy-1 retrotransposons in the Cebidae Platyrrhine lineage. Genome Biol Evol 4: 1105-1116. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evz062.
Walker JA, Jordan VE, Storer JM, Steely CJ, Gonzalez-Quiroga P, Beckstrom TO, Rewerts LC, St Romain CP, Rockwell CE, Rogers J, Jolly CJ and Konkel MK. 2019. Alu insertion polymorphisms shared by Papio baboons and Theropithecus gelada reveal an intertwined common ancestry. Mob DNA 10: 46. doi: 10.1186/s13100-019-0187-y.
Jordan VE, JA Walker, TO Beckstrom, CJ Steely, CL McDaniel, CP St. Romain, KC Worley, The Baboon Genome Analysis Consortium, J Phillips-Conroy, CJ Jolly, J Rogers, MK Konkel, and MA Batzer (2018) A computational reconstruction of Papio phylogeny using Alu insertion polymorphisms. Mobile DNA.
Steely CJ, JA Walker, VE Jordan, TO Beckstrom, CL McDaniel, CP St. Romain, EC Bennett, A Robichaux, BN Clement, M Raveendran, The Baboon Genome Analysis Consortium, KC Worley, J Phillips-Conroy, CJ Jolly, J Rogers, MK Konkel, and MA Batzer (2017) Alu Insertion Polymorphisms as Evidence for Population Structure in Baboons. Genome Biology and Evolution 9(9): 2418–2427, https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evx184
Baker JB, JA Walker, JA Vanchiere, KR Phillippe, CP St. Romain, P Gonzalez-Quiroga, MW Denham, JR Mierl, MK Konkel, and MA Batzer (2017) Evolution of Alu Subfamily Structure in the Saimiri Lineage of New World Monkeys. Genome Biology and Evolution 9(9): 2365-2376, https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evx172
Walker JA, VE Jordan, CJ Steely, TO Beckstrom, CL McDaniel, CP St. Romain, EC Bennett, A Robichaux, BN Clement, MK Konkel, The Baboon Genome Analysis Consortium, and MA Batzer (2017) Papio baboon species indicative Alu elements. Genome Biology and Evolution 9 (6): 1788–1796, https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evx130.
Konkel MK*^, B Ullmer*, EL Arceneaux, S Sanampudi, SA Brantley, R Hubley, AFA Smit, MA Batzer^ (2016) Discovery of a new repeat family in the Callithrix jacchus genome. Genome Research 26(5): 649-59. * These authors contributed equally; ^ corresponding authors.
The 1000 Genomes Project Consortium (2015) A global reference for human genetic variation. Nature 526: 68-74 [cover article].
Sudmant PH*, T Rausch*, EJ Gardner*, RE Handsaker*, A Abyzov*, J Huddleston*, Y Zhang*, K Ye*, G Jun, MHY Fritz, MK Konkel, A Malhotra, AM Stütz, X Shi, FP Casale, J Chen, F Hormozdiari, G Dayama, K Chen, M Malig, MJP Chaisson, K Walter, S Meiers, S Kashin, E Garrison, C Alkan, D Antaki, T Bae, P Chines, Z Chong, L Clarke, E Dal, L Ding, S Emery, X Fan, M Gujral, F Kahveci, JM Kidd, HYK Lam, S McCarthy, P Flicek, RA Gibbs, G Marth, A Menelaou, XJ Mu, DM Muzny, B Nelson, A Noor, NF Parrish, A Quitadamo, B Raeder, E Schadt, A Schlattl, A Shabalin, A Untergasser, EW Lameijer, JA Walker, M Wang, F Yu, C Zhang, J Zhang, X Zheng-Bradley, W Zhou, T Zichner, J Sebat, MA Batzer, SA McCarroll, The 1000 Genomes Project Consortium, RE Mills, MB Gerstein, A Bashir, O Stegle, SE Devine, C Lee, EE Eichler and JO Korbel (2015) An integrated map of structural variation in 2,504 human genomes. Nature 526: 75-81 [cover article]. * These authors contributed equally to this work.
Konkel MK*, JA Walker*, AB Hotard, MC Ranck, CC Fontenot, J Storer, C Stewart, GT Marth, the 1000 Genomes Consortium and Mark A. Batzer (2015) Sequence analysis and characterization of active human Alu subfamilies based on the 1000 Genomes pilot project. Genome Biology and Evolution 7: 2608. * These authors contributed equally to this work. (Received ASHG reviewers’ choice award for abstract in 2015.)