Nowlan Freese

After graduating with a degree in Biology from St. Olaf college, Nowlan moved to Clemson, South Carolina where he enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Clemson University in the Biological Sciences department. There he studied developmental biology of vertebrates, focusing on genetic pathways that specify the size and shape of the vertebrate tailbone. This research culminated in his thesis: A novel gain of function of the gene IRX1/2 disrupts axis elongation in the Araucana rumpless chicken, and in 2013 he received his Ph.D. from Clemson. After graduating Nowlan moved to Jena, Germany where he worked at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, studying the use of nematodes as a deterrent to Western corn rootworm.

Nowlan Freese joined the Loraine genome visualization lab as a postdoctoral researcher and trainee in Sept. 2014. Nowlan’s primary role was to lead outreach and training efforts for the Integrated Genome Browser (IGB) project. Nowlan helped expand the IGB user base by leading workshops and on-line webinars introducing IGB to the wider community. In 2015, Nowlan was awarded a three year NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology, sponsored by the Plant Genome Research Program. His research investigated the relationship between DNA methylation and alternative splicing.

In 2018, Nowlan transitioned to the position of Research Associate at UNC Charlotte where he led a team of masters students to complete the BioViz Connect project. Nowlan is now a Research Assistant Professor focused on expanding the Integrated Genome Browser.

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