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Alejandro Berrio Escobar

Research Scientist
Biology
130 Science Drive, FFS 4115, Durham, NC 27708

Current Appointments & Affiliations


In the News


Published October 17, 2022
How Duke researchers are guiding the University's COVID-19 policies
Published August 17, 2022
Inside the Massive Genome Sequencing Operation Guiding Duke's COVID Response
Published October 18, 2020
These ‘Silent’ Mutations May Give Covid-19 Coronavirus An Evolutionary Advantage

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Recent Publications


Lepidopteran scale cells derive from sensory organ precursors through a canonical lineage.

Journal Article Development (Cambridge, England) · March 2025 The success of butterflies and moths is tightly linked to the origin of scales within the group. A long-standing hypothesis postulates that scales are homologous to the well-described mechanosensory bristles found in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, ... Full text Cite

Single-Cell Transcriptomics Reveals Evolutionary Reconfiguration of Embryonic Cell Fate Specification in the Sea Urchin Heliocidaris erythrogramma.

Journal Article Genome biology and evolution · January 2025 Altered regulatory interactions during development likely underlie a large fraction of phenotypic diversity within and between species, yet identifying specific evolutionary changes remains challenging. Analysis of single-cell developmental transcriptomes ... Full text Open Access Cite

The people behind the papers – Alejandro Berrio and David McClay

Journal Article Development · December 15, 2024 Early sea urchin embryos contain cells called micromeres, which play an important role in the formation of three mesodermal cell types: skeletogenic, blastocoelar and pigment cells. When micromeres are removed, the embryo can replace the skeletogen ... Full text Cite
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Recent Grants


Embryonic Cell Recognition: Specificity Determinants

ResearchPostdoctoral Associate · Awarded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development · 1980 - 2028

CORonavirus VAriant Sequencing (CORVASEQ) Surveillance Network

ResearchPostdoctoral Associate · Awarded by University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill · 2021 - 2023

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External Links


alejoberrio.com