A major challenge in biology is to determine the genetic and molecular mechanisms responsible for phenotypic differences between species (DevoEvo), particularly mechanisms that underlie the origin of new anatomical structures (‘evolutionary novelties’), biological functions (‘evolutionary innovations’), and that limit biological possibilities (‘developmental constraints’). To explore how evolutionary novelties, innovations, and developmental constraints evolve we combine comparative genomics and experimental methods to deduce the molecular mechanisms that underlie the evolution of pregnancy and animals with extremely long lifespans and large body sizes, and the role evolutionary history plays in our susceptibility to diseases such as preterm birth and cancer. 

• Erin Fry, Sun K. Kim, Sravanthi Chigurapti, Katelyn M. Mika, Aakrosh Ratan, Alexander Dammermann, Brian J. Mitchell, Webb Miller, Vincent J. Lynch (2020) Functional architecture of deleterious genetic variants in the genome of a Wrangel Island mammoth. Genome Biology and Evolution, evz279.
• Vazquez JM, Sulak M, Chigurupati S, Lynch VJ (2018) A Zombie LIF Gene in Elephants Is Upregulated by TP53 to Induce Apoptosis in Response to DNA Damage. Cell Rep. 24(7):1765-1776.
• Sulak M, Fong L, Mika K, Chigurupati S, Yon L, Mongan NP, Emes RD, Lynch VJ (2016) TP53 copy number expansion is associated with the evolution of increased body size and an enhanced DNA damage response in elephants. Elife. 5: e11994.
• Lynch VJ, Nnamani MC, Kapusta A, Brayer K, Plaza SL, Mazur EC, Emera D, Sheikh SZ, Grützner F, Bauersachs S, Graf A, Young SL, Lieb JD, DeMayo FJ, Feschotte C, Wagner GP (2015) Ancient transposable elements transformed the uterine regulatory landscape and transcriptome during the evolution of mammalian pregnancy. Cell Rep. 10(4):551-61.