Scholars@Duke
Debra Lynn Silver

Debra Lynn Silver

Vice Chair for Faculty Affairs
Cell Biology
466A Nanaline Duke Building, 307 Research Drive, Durham, NC 27710
466A Nanaline Duke Building, 307 Research Drive, Durham, NC 27710

Scholarly Works - Preprints

Intraspecific sequence variation and complete genomes refine the identification of rapidly evolved regions in humans.

Preprint · October 21, 2025 Humans exhibit significant phenotypic differences from other great apes, yet pinpointing the underlying genetic changes has been limited by incomplete reference genomes and a reliance on single assemblies to represent a species. We aligned 20 telomere-to-t ... Full text Link to item Cite

Species-specific chromatin architecture and neurogenesis mediated by a human enhancer.

Preprint · August 8, 2025 Genomic modifications underlie the evolution of human features, including a larger neocortex and enhanced cognition. Human Accelerated Regions (HARs) are highly-conserved loci containing human-specific variants and can act as neurodevelopmental enhancers. ... Full text Link to item Cite

mRNA stability fine tunes gene expression in the developing cortex to control neurogenesis

Preprint · 2024 RNA expression levels are controlled by the complementary processes of synthesis and degradation. Although mis-regulation of RNA turnover is linked to neurodevelopmental disorders, how it contributes to cortical development is largely unknown. Here, we pro ... Full text Cite