B.Sc. University of California, Berkeley. CA, USA
M.Sc. Harvard University. MA, USA

Faisal is an evolutionary geneticist who joined our lab interested in the adaptation of complex traits, natural variation, and evolutionary novelty. He grew up across the Atlantic in Kuwait and then moved to California, where he studied genetics at UC Berkeley. There, he worked in genetics labs – the Brem and Whiteman labs – where he studied trait variation between species.

In the Brem lab, Faisal focused on the genetic basis of an interspecific difference in thermotolerance in different yeast species and found that this difference is underlain by a suite of essential genes.

In the Whiteman lab, he investigated bill shape variation in the broad-tailed hummingbird and assisted on a project to understand the process of speciation in a spikedace minnow population.

In general, Faisal is interested in adaptation, hybridization, and speciation, and the evolutionary mechanisms and dynamics that drive these phenomena in general. He is interested in evolutionary and systems biology, especially population genetics and molecular evolution over long time scales.

Faisal loves to write, read, and teach topics inside or outside of science! And he loves cooking, too…and sometimes chess. Social causes are very important to him and he believes they are paramount to consider as scientists.

Faisal is currently a scientist at Transfyr.bio.

Abrams MB, Chuong JN, AlZaben F, Dubin CA, Skerker JM, Bren RB (2022) Barcoded reciprocal hemizygosity analysis via sequencing illuminates the complex genetic basis of yeast thermotolerance. G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics 12(2):jkab412.

AlZaben F, Chuong JN, Abrams MB, Brem RB (2021) Joint effects of genes underlying a temperature specialization tradeoff in yeast. PLOS Genetics 17(9): e1009793.

Abrams MB, Dubin CA, AlZaben F, Bravo J, Joubert PM, Weiss CV, Brem RB (2021) Population and comparative genetics of thermotolerance divergence between yeast species. G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics 11(7):jkab139

AlZaben, F., Vasilenko D., Gunbold, G., McClanahan S., Boyce P., Boyce G. CCD Measurements of WDS 13510+6819 STTA127. Journal of Double Star Observations 13(3): 391-394

AlZaben, F., Priest A., Priest S., Qiu R., Boyce G., Boyce P. Measurements of Multi-star Systems LEO 5 and MKT 13. Journal of Double Star Observations 12(4): 400-405

AlZaben, F., Li D., Li Y., Dennis A., Fene M., Boyce G., Boyce P. CCD Astrometry with Robotic Telescopes. Journal of Double Star Observations 12(1): 45-50