Lucas Boatwright

Educational Background

Ph.D. Botany
University of Florida 2018

M.S. Biology
University of Alabama at Birmingham 2013

B.S. Biology
Samford University 2011

Profile

Lucas Boatwright is a research assistant professor in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences. His Ph.D. work focused on non-model transcriptomics in both allopolyploid plants, Tragopogon, and the mammalian model for regeneration, spiny mouse. He previously worked with the UF Bioinformatics Core facilities where he worked with sequence data from viruses, bacteria, plants and animals with a focus on transcriptomics, network analysis, and genome annotation. He currently works with Steve Kresovich's lab as a bioinformatician where he manages the computational analyses for the group. Current research focuses on examining the genetic diversity across diverse sorghum populations and associating genotype to phenotype.

Research Interests

My main interest is using bioinformatics to study systems biology, more specifically the analysis of how genetic variation may have broad phenotypic implications and how these effects modify resource partitioning across diverse groups. As such, I often utilize bioinformatic tools associated with genome-wide association, differential gene expression, and network and co-expression analyses. Even in my spare time, I can be found coding and learning bioinformatics algorithms and statistics. I'm additionally interested in the application of Bayesian statistics and probabilistic programming to solve biological problems.

Publications

Sapkota, S., Boatwright, J. Lucas, Jordan, K. E., Boyles, R. E., Kresovich, S. (2020). Multi-trait regressor stacking increased genomic prediction accuracy of sorghum grain composition. bioRxiv.

Mantello, C. C., Boatwright, J. Lucas, da Silva, C. C., Scaloppi, E. J., de Souza Goncalves, P., Barbazuk, W. B., de Souza, A. P. (2019). Deep expression analysis reveals distinct cold-response strategies in rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis). BMC genomics, 20(1), 455.

Brant, J. O., Boatwright, J. Lucas, Davenport, R., Sandoval, A. G. W., Maden, M., Barbazuk, W. B. (2019). Comparative transcriptomic analysis of dermal wound healing reveals de novo skeletal muscle regeneration in Acomys cahirinus. PloS one, 14(5), e0216228.

Boatwright, J. Lucas, McIntyre, L. M., Morse, A. M., Chen, S., Yoo, M.-J., Koh, J., Soltis, P. S., Soltis, D. E., Barbazuk, W. B. (2018). A robust methodology for assessing differential homeolog contributions to the transcriptomes of allopolyploids. Genetics, 210(3), 883--894.

Mantello, C. C., Boatwright, L., da Silva, C. C., Scaloppi, E. J., de Souza Goncalves, P., Barbazuk, W. B., de Souza, A. P. (2018). Transcriptome Analysis of Distinct Cold Tolerance Strategies in the Rubber Tree (Hevea brasiliensis). bioRxiv, 395590.

Mei, W., Boatwright, L., Feng, G., Schnable, J. C., Barbazuk, W. B. (2017). Evolutionarily conserved alternative splicing across monocots. Genetics, 207(2), 465--480.

Boatwright, J. L., Pajerowska-Mukhtar, K. (2013). Salicylic acid: an old hormone up to new tricks. Molecular plant pathology, 14(6), 623--634.

Duffee, L. E., Boatwright, J. L., Pacha, F. H., Shockley, J. M., Pajerowska-Mukhtar, K. M., Mukhtar, M. S. (2012). Eukaryotic endoplasmic reticulum stress sensing mechanisms. Advances in Life Sciences, 2(6), 148--155.

Moreno, A. A., Mukhtar, M. S., Blanco, F., Boatwright, J. L., Moreno, I., Jordan, M. R., Chen, Y., Brandizzi, F., Dong, X., Orellana, A., others (2012). IRE1/bZIP60-mediated unfolded protein response plays distinct roles in plant immunity and abiotic stress responses. PLoS One, 7(2).