Dr. David T. Kirkpatrick

Molecular Geneticist and Turtle-Fancier

I am a molecular geneticist by trade, and an amateur turtle-keeper and natural history writer by fancy. Currently I am working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of North Carolina, in the laboratory of Tom Petes. My work is centered around understanding the factors involved in the initiation of meiotic recombination in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and the way in which DNA repair mechanisms act during recombination. In the little free time I have, I write natural history articles on turtles and tortoises, with the occasional lizard on the side.

More on my research and the lab.
Personal Stuff
More about our turtles, my writing, and other herp-related stuff.