Professor Lin Chao is a Chinese Brazilian

Chinese Brazilian

Chinese Brazilians are people of Chinese ancestry who were born in or have immigrated to Brazil. The Chinese Brazilian population was estimated to be approximately 151,649....

 American evolutionary biologist and geneticist

Geneticist

A geneticist is a biologist who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer. Some geneticists perform experiments and analyze data to interpret the inheritance of skills. A geneticist is also a Consultant or...

. Professor Chao gained his PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in 1977 from the University of Massachusetts

University of Massachusetts

This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...

, Amherst

Amherst, Massachusetts

Amherst is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 37,819, making it the largest community in Hampshire County . The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts...

, as a student of Bruce R. Levin (now at Emory University

Emory University

Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...

), and was a NIH postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 in the laboratory of Edward C. Cox. He spent most of his career in the Department of Biology of the University of Maryland, College Park

University of Maryland, College Park

The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...

 and is currently at the Ecology

Ecology

Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

, Behavior and Evolution Section of the University of California, San Diego

University of California, San Diego

The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...

.

Professor Chao is best known for his early work on the evolution of bacteriocins http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/78/10/6324, his demonstration of Muller’s ratchet in the RNA Virus

RNA virus

An RNA virus is a virus that has RNA as its genetic material. This nucleic acid is usually single-stranded RNA but may be double-stranded RNA...

 Phi-6 http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v348/n6300/abs/348454a0.html and his work on sex in viruses http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/abstract/147/3/953. More recently, he was instrumental in the demonstration of the evolution of parasitic genetic elements in co-infecting bacteriophages http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v398/n6726/abs/398441a0.html http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0033-5770(200009)75%3A3%3C261%3AKSAPEH%3E2.0.CO%3B2-B#abstract and experimental tests of Fisher’s geometric model http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/abstract/151/3/921. He argued that "life

Life

Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased , or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate...

 is evolution

Evolution

Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...

 by natural selection

Natural selection

Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....

" http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0006-3568(200003)50%3A3%3C245%3ATMOL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0. The approach generally used in his laboratory is called microbial experimental evolution

Experimental evolution

In evolutionary and experimental biology, the field of experimental evolution is concerned with testing hypotheses and theories of evolution by use of controlled experiments. Evolution may be observed in the laboratory as populations adapt to new environmental conditions and/or change by such...

.

Professor Chao is married to Camilla Rang, a fellow scientist, T-shirt designer and Swedish children's book author.

External links

• Professor Chao's Faculty Webpage at UCSD