Polyploid Cells, Evolution, and Faith in Dr. Standring’s Lab

Photo by Kylee Brown

Following her PhD thesis studying assassin bugs, Dr. Sam Standring started her postdoctoral work at BYU with Professor Paul Frandsen extracting silk genes from different butterfly species. In this process, she and another team member realized the sequencing was taking longer because the cell was polyploid, meaning it contained more than two sets of chromosomes. Now as a faculty member in the Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, Standring hopes to continue researching these complex cells to understand their impact on insect evolution.

Photo by Kylee Brown

While the majority of cells in our body are diploid, containing two copies of each chromosome, cells in the liver and placenta are polyploid and contain as many as hundreds of copies of each chromosome. Caddisflies and butterflies are diploid organisms with highly polyploid silk gland cells, containing as much as 6000 copies of each chromosome in their cells. Standring’s research is currently focused on the evolution of polyploid cells across caddisfly species occupying different environmental niches.

By unlocking the secrets of insect evolution, Standring is excited for her students to take part in the learning process and answer what was previously unanswerable. She also wants her students to have a better understanding of God’s plan. “One of my favorite parts of our faith, is that there are questions that we don't have answers to,” Standring said. “We don't know exactly how God created the world, but we know that He did. As scientists, we're trying to do our best, with scientific tools, to answer that question. I love to think of God as this master scientist who used evolution and was able to think of things so far in advance that He knew what was going to come when we put two cells together, that He knew how things were going to evolve. I like thinking of evolution as God's way of saying, ‘All of life has free agency. Evolve.”

Photo by Kylee Brown

Standring also hopes to inspire other female scientists to get involved in research. “Hopefully I can help them see that there are many paths that one can take in their life,” she said. “There are many roads you can go down, and everyone’s path is different. We can all receive God’s revelation to do what the right thing is for us.”

As she continues to grow as a new BYU faculty member, Standring looks forward to mentoring students and fostering their excitement for evolutionary biology. To get involved with Dr. Standring’s research, you can email her here or stop by her office at 5134 LSB.