University of British Columbia, Ph.D. (Zoology)

University of California Berkeley, B.A. (Zoology)

I study basic and applied questions in the evolution, ecology and genomics of emerging genome-enabled model insect systems.  Current questions are: what are the first genome regions to differentiate species, and how do these arise? (Heliconius / Hawaiian Drosophila). What is the impact of ecology on the radiation of Hawaiian Drosophila at the genome level? How do vector-born viral pathogens interact with insect vectors? (Aedes mosquitoes and Dengue virus with collaborator Shannon N. Bennett). 

Papa, R., Kapan, D. D., Counterman, B.A., Maldonado, K., Lindstrom, D.P., Reed, R.D., Nijhout, H.F., Hrbek, T. and W.O. McMillan. 2013. Multi-Allelic Major Effect Genes Interact with Minor Effect QTLs to Control Adaptive Color Pattern Variation in Heliconius erato. PLoS ONE 8:e57033.

Kuo, I.**, Saw, J. Kapan, D. D. Christensen, S., Kaneshiro, K. Y. and S. P. Donachie 2013.  Flavobacterium akiainvivens, sp. nov., from decaying Wikstroemia oahuensis, Hawaii. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.

The Heliconius Genome Consortium (co-author, member). 2012. Butterfly genome reveals promiscuous exchange of mimicry adaptations among species. Nature. 487:94–98. doi:10.1038/nature11041

Vanwambeke, S. O., Bennett, S. N., and D. D. Kapan. 2011. Spatially disaggregated disease transmission risk: land cover, land use and risk of dengue transmission on the island of Oahu. Tropical Medicine and International Health. 16:141–256. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3156.2010.02671.x

Martin, A., Kapan, D. D., and L. E. Gilbert. 2010. Wing Patterns in the Mist. PLoS Genetics 6: e1000822.