Theresa
Postdoctoral Fellow
terlenbach@ggc.org
Biosketch
Theresa Erlenbach earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Biology with a minor in Bioinformatics from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2019. During her undergraduate, she receiving training in Dr. Rebekah Rogers’ lab in the Department of Bioinformatics where she studied how new gene formation impacted gene expression between closely related species of Drosophila. She then earned her PhD in Genetics from the University of Georgia in 2024, where she worked in the lab of Dr. Kelly Dyer. Her graduate research largely focused on genome evolution across taxonomic scales, using mushroom-feeding Drosophila as a model. Her projects specifically examined how toxin tolerance evolved across an adaptive radiation of Drosophila, genome evolution within the Testacea species group of Drosophila, and how meiotic drive has shaped the evolutionary history of an X-chromosome in Drosophia neotestacea. This worked helped Theresa develop extensive skills in Next-Generation Sequencing, genomics, and bioinformatics. For her Post-Doc, Theresa switched to human clinical genetics, where she now works in the lab of Dr. Gavin Arno at the Greenwood Genetic Center utilizing bioinformatics and genomics to assess rare genetic diseases.
Research
At the Greenwood Genetic Center, Theresa assessed patients with rare genetic disorders, where traditional genetic testing methods have not been able to identify the root genetic cause. She utilizes long-read sequencing technology to identify genomic variants that are not detectible through short-read or exome sequencing and could be causal for the patient’s disease. Additionally, Theresa is doing research on inherited retinal disease, attempting to use long-read technologies to build pipelines to understand genetic variants associated with specific eye disorders.
Publications
Erlenbach, T., Haynes, L., Fish, O., Beveridge, J, Giambrone, S-A., Reed, L.K., Dyer, K.A., and Scott Chialvo, C.H. (2023). Investigating the phylogenetic history of toxin tolerance in mushroom-feeding Drosophila. 13(12):e10736
Erlenbach, T. and Wares, J.P. (2023). Latitudinal variation and plasticity in response to temperature in Geukensia demissa. Ecology and Evolution. 13(2):e9856
Arnold, M.E., Butts, A.N., Erlenbach, T., Amico, K.N., and Schank, J.R. (2022). Sex differences in neuronal activation during aversion-resistant alcohol consumption. Alcohol, Clinical and Experimental Research. 24(2):240-250
Turner, B.A., Miorin, T., Stewart, N.B., Reid, R.W., Moore, C.M., and Rogers, R.L. 2021. Chromosomal rearrangements facilitate local adaptation in island Drosophila. arXiv:2109.09801.