About
Born in the resplendent city of Riobamba and raised in Quito, I lived two decades of my life amongst the amazing Ecuadorian mountainous landscapes. From an early age, I was ingrained with understanding the importance of protecting life in all of its forms. Quickly my love for animals, Biology and Ecology grew and eventually led me to Argentina, where I pursued a Bachelor of Sciences in Genetics.
B.S, M.S & PhD Student.
While pursuing my undergraduate degree at Universidad Nacional de Misiones, I ventured into
studying chromosomal features in the elusive Myotis bat genus.
Unsolved questions from this work woke in me a particular interest in Transposable Elements and in
their potential to be used as molecular markers to solve intricate phylogenetic relationships in this
group.
As part of my Master of Science projects at the Ray
Lab, my research on immune response of bats enabled me to infer the evolution of gene
families related to antimicrobial peptides in this remarkable group of mammals. Additionally, I laid the
groundwork to characterize a specific type of Transposable Element to construct homoplasy-free phylogenies
in Chiroptera. Currently, as a PhD student, one of my projects focuses on optimizing this
pipeline with the aim of expanding its applicability to other taxa. While my primary research interests
revolve around taxonomy, I also explore other adaptive traits that make bats unique among mammals, with
metabolism being a key focus.
As a member of the Fundación Oso Andino, my involvement
extends beyond Genetics and bat research. I lead projects that seek to study the behavior of large mammals
by means of analyzing GPS tracking data. Using novel bioinformatic approaches, I am
looking to understand how Andean bears, Andean foxes and tapirs, make use of their natural habitat and
what resources and environmental variables
may have an impact on how they move across their utilization distributions.
Resume
Download ResumeProfessional Experience
Bat1K Regional Chair
Bat1K Consortium - Regional Chair for Ecuador
Research Collaborator
The Ray Lab, Texas Tech University, USA
Ecuadorian bats: A key to investigating aging and metabolic trade‑offs based on feeding habits and transposable element evolution
Scientific Director
Fundación Oso Andino, Ecuador
Space use and movement Ecology of large mammals in the Ecuadorian Andes.
Teaching Assistant
Texas Tech University, USA
- Biology I. BIOL1403. Every Fall 2021-2025
- Biology II. BIOL1404. Every Spring 2022-2026
- Genetics. BIOL3416. Summer 2022 & Summer 2026
- Genomes and Genome Evolution. BIOL4340. Fall 2023 & Fall 2025
Educational Background
Biology PhD student
The Ray Lab, Texas Tech University, USA.
Bachelor of Sciences in Genetics
Universidad Nacional de Misiones, Argentina.
Cytogenetic and molecular studies in species of the Genus Myotis in Northern Argentina.
Publications
Conferences
Bats and bytes: Decoding bat evolution with machine learning
TEDx Texas Tech
Oral Presentation.
A SINE-based method to reconstruct concordant phylogenies across Chiroptera
52nd North American Bat Research Conference, Guadalajara, México
Oral Presentation. Karl Koopman Award for Best Student Presentation.
New insights into Andean bear movement ecology across the Ecuadorian Andes
28th North American Association for Bear Research and Management Conference, Edmonton, Canada
Oral Presentation.
Awards & Honors
NSF STAR [co-authored]
The Ray Lab, Texas Tech University, USA.
Supervised Machine Learning to Improve Transposable Element Polymorphism Detection for Phylogenetic Inference.
J. Knox Jones, Jr., Memorial Endowed Scholarship
Texas Tech University, USA.
Award to support research interests in mammalian systematics and natural history.
Expeditions and Field Work Grant Program
Bat Biology Foundation Award
Granted to undertake field campaigns in several Reserves and National Parks in Ecuador and to sequence the genomes of several native and endemic bat species. More here.
General Fellowships for New and Continuing Graduate Students
Texas Tech University, USA.
Fellowship granted by Texas Tech University covered tuition costs over the summer period plus research funds.
Portfolio
I combine my skills on programming languages and graphic design applications to create visually appealing and scientifically accurate illustrations and animations. Most of my raw data visualizations are heavily coded in R with the packages: tidyverse, movevis, rayshader, elevatr, and tons of others. You can read more about the process of creating these visualizations by clicking on the figures below.
- All
- GIF
- R
- QUARTO
- ADOBE
- POSTER
Figures by FXC. Do not reuse, modify or redistribute without prior written permission.
Contact
Website:
Email:
Email me: xacfran@gmail.com
Location:
Department of Biological Sciences,
Texas Tech University.
2901 Main St, Lubbock, TX 79409