About Me

I am a graduate student in Evolution, Ecology, Genetics, and Genomics (E2G2) program within the department of Biology at the University of Rochester. I am pursuing my PhD in Larracuente lab, studying the evolution of complex genomic regions using fruit flies as model organisms.

I completed my BS in Biochemistry at Independent University, Bangladesh. As an undergraduate, I was introduced to host-parasite interactions and the Red Queen Hypothesis, which sparked my fascination with coevolution. For my thesis, I investigated the immune/metabolic gene IDO1 in bats and found evidence of positive selection, likely driven by the high viral loads bats carry. It was fascinating to observe how a gene central to cellular metabolism could evolve rapidly in response to parasitic pressure—highlighting the molecular basis of the host-parasite arms race.

In January 2021, I moved to the U.S. to begin my MS at Miami University in Ohio. This was when I first started working with fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), and I quickly developed a deep appreciation for these model organisms, drawn by the extensive genetic tools and resources available for biological research. My master’s thesis focused on how the evolution of transcription factor binding sites within genomic regulatory elements, known as enhancers, contributed to the evolution of insect wings by shaping the wing gene regulatory network. I investigated the vestigial (vg) gene locus, a crucial gene for wing development in insects. I discovered novel enhancers that drive vg expression throughout development. In addition, I characterized the expression patterns of previously well-studied vg enhancers from the perspective of insect wing evolution. Briefly, my study showed that vg is expressed in both tergal and pleural regions during Drosophila development. The regulatory elements responsible for these expression patterns share common features, and in some cases, their regulatory architectures are intertwined with those driving wing-specific expression. These findings support the dual-origin hypothesis of insect wing evolution, which proposes that wings evolved through the integration of both tergal and pleural body wall structures.

Figure showing how misexpression of vg lead to ectopic wing-like outgrowths in non-wing appendages like legs, antennae, and genitalia © 2025 Jabale Rahmat

I moved to Rochester, NY to pursue my PhD at the University of Rochester in Fall 2024. I joined Larracuente Lab in Summer 2025, where I study chromosome evolution, with a particular focus on how repetitive elements evolve rapidly and shape genome dynamics over evolutionary timescales.