Welcome to the Larracuente Lab!
We study the evolution of selfish DNA using genomic, population genetic, molecular and cytological methods. The lab is located at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. We are part of the Evolution, Ecology, Genetics, and Genomics group in the Department of Biology and are affiliated with the Goergen Institute for Data Science and AI and the Center for RNA Biology.
news
| Jun 25, 2026 | Check out our preprint introducing kmerRRR: A k-mer based tool for functional genomics in Repeat Rich Regions. This tool improves mappability in highly repetitive regions like satellite DNAs and centromeres. Try out the tool and let us know what you think: https://github.com/LarracuenteLab/kmerRRR! |
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| May 30, 2026 | Ching-Ho’s and Tyler’s paper on pervasive suppressors of Segregation Distorter in a natural population of Drosophila melanogaster is out in GENETICs!  |
| May 29, 2026 | Check out our new pre-print on satellite DNA evolution across phylogenetic scales! We designed a pipline to annotate and identify homologous repeats–a challenging task in non-model organisms. This helped us reveal patterns of repeat evolution within and across insect orders. |
| Feb 06, 2026 | Logan Edvalson was awarded an NIH F31 fellowship to study the molecular mechanisms of drive. Congratulations Logan!!  |
| Jan 29, 2026 | We are excited to share our preprint on making targeting mutations in satellite DNAs using a sequential CRISPR. This approach allows us to manipulate the satellite without interfering with flanking regions. We’re using this approach to study the functional and evolutionary consequences of satellite DNAs. Here, we demonstrate that these mutations alter sensitivity to meiotic drive. |