About
Born in the resplendent city of Riobamba and raised in Quito, I lived two decades of my life amongst the amazing Ecuadorian mountainous landscapes. From an early age, I was ingrained with understanding the importance of protecting life in all of its forms. Quickly my love for animals, Biology and Ecology grew and eventually led me to Argentina, where I pursued a Bachelor of Sciences in Genetics.
B.S, M.S & PhD Student.
While pursuing my undergraduate degree at Universidad Nacional de Misiones, I ventured into
studying chromosomal features in the elusive Myotis bat genus.
Unsolved questions from this work woke in me a particular interest in Transposable Elements and in
their potential to be used as molecular markers to solve intricate phylogenetic relationships in this
group.
As part of my Master of Science projects at the Ray
Lab, my research on immune response of bats enabled me to infer the evolution of gene
families related to antimicrobial peptides in this remarkable group of mammals. Additionally, I laid the
groundwork to characterize a specific type of Transposable Element to construct homoplasy-free phylogenies
in Chiroptera. Currently, as a PhD student, one of my projects focuses on optimizing this
pipeline with the aim of expanding its applicability to other taxa. While my primary research interests
revolve around taxonomy, I also explore other adaptive traits that make bats unique among mammals, with
metabolism being a key focus.
As a member of the Fundación Oso Andino, my involvement
extends beyond Genetics and bat research. I lead projects that seek to study the behavior of large mammals
by means of analyzing GPS tracking data. Using novel bioinformatic non-parametric methods, I am
looking to understand how Andean bears, Andean foxes and tapirs, make use of their natural habitat and
what resources and environmental variables
may have an impact on how they move across their utilization distributions.
Resume
Download ResumeProfessional Experience
Bat1K Regional Chair
Bat1K Consortium - Regional Chair for Ecuador
Research Collaborator
The Ray Lab, Texas Tech University, USA
Ecuadorian bats: A key to investigating aging and metabolic trade‑offs based on feeding habits and transposable element evolution
RAPID: Collaborative Research: Immunological adaptations in bats to moderate the effect of coronavirus infection
Scientific Director
Fundación Oso Andino, Ecuador
Space use and movement Ecology of large mammals in the Ecuadorian Andes.
Teaching Assistant
Texas Tech University, USA
- Biology I. BIOL1403. Fall 2021/2022
- Biology II. BIOL1404. Spring 2022/2023
- Genetics. BIOL3416. Summer 2022
- Genomes and Genome Evolution. BIOL4340. Fall 2023
Educational Background
Biology PhD student
The Ray Lab, Texas Tech University, USA.
Bachelor of Sciences in Genetics
Universidad Nacional de Misiones, Argentina.
Cytogenetic and molecular studies in species of the Genus Myotis in Northern Argentina.
Publications
Conferences
A SINE-based method to reconstruct concordant phylogenies across Chiroptera
52nd North American Bat Research Conference, Guadalajara, México
Oral Presentation. Karl Koopman Award for Best Student Presentation.
New insights into Andean bear movement ecology across the Ecuadorian Andes
28th North American Association for Bear Research and Management Conference, Edmonton, Canada
Oral Presentation.
deAMPlifying the Immune Response? Antimicrobial Peptides Evolution in Chiroptera
Evolution 2023, Albuquerque, USA
Oral Presentation
Chromosomal studies in some species of the genus Myotis
XXXI Argentine Conference of Mastozoology, La Rioja, Argentina
Castellanos, F.X., Labaroni C.A., Ferro, J.M., Taffarel, A., Baldo, D.J, and Sánchez, M.S. Chromosomal studies in some species of the genus Myotis (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from Northern Argentina. Poster Presentation.
Awards & Honors
J. Knox Jones, Jr., Memorial Endowed Scholarship
Award to graduate students at TTU with research interests in mammalian systematics and natural history.
Bat Biology Foundation Award
Granted to undertake field campaigns in several Reserves and National Parks in Ecuador and to sequence the genomes of several native and endemic bat species.
General Fellowships for New and Continuing Graduate Students
Fellowship granted by Texas Tech University covered tuition costs over the summer period plus research funds.
Skills
My current bioinformatics projects demand some skills on programming languages, I've listed the ones I use and understand the most. I supplement my coding skills with some knowledge on design software since I enjoy preparing or polishing figures for presentations and/or posters.
Portfolio
This is some of the visual work I have created by merging the results of software for phylogenetic reconstruction as IQ-TREE and Mega, and the R programming language, with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Most of my plots are heavily coded in R with the packages: tidyverse, movevis, rayshader, elevatr,
- All
- GIF
- R
- QUARTO
- ADOBE
- POSTER
Contact
Website:
Email:
Email me: xacfran@gmail.com
Location:
Department of Biological Sciences,
Texas Tech University.
2901 Main St, Lubbock, TX 79409