Jose Barba-Montoya – Gerstner Scholar in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
I am a Gerstner Scholar in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at the Richard Gilder Graduate School and the Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History. I collaborate with Professor Lorenzo Prendini to investigate the tree of life of Arachnida. I am also involved in teaching, training, and conducting workshops on phylogenomics, programming languages (R, Python), and high performance computing.
Contact address: 200 Central Park West, New York, New York 10024
Telephone: +1-212-313-7522
Email: jbarba@amnh.org
Background
2017: Ph.D. in Molecular Evolution, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, UK. Bayesian molecular clock dating and the divergence times of angiosperms and primates. Supervised by Professor Ziheng Yang.
2012: M.Sc. in Systematics, Institute of Biology, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico. Diversification of Pachycereeae (Cactaceae) due to pollination syndromes. Supervised by Professor Susana Magallón.
2009: B.Sc. in Biology, Faculty of Sciences, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico. Origin and evolution of tribe Pachycereeae (Cactaceae). Supervised by Professor Susana Magallón.
Professional and Research Experience
Nov 2023 – date: Gerstner Scholar in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, USA.
Sep 2018 – Oct 2023: Postdoctoral Researcher in the Laboratory of Professor Sudhir Kumar at Institute for Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Research focused on developing, implementing, and evaluating models/methods for estimation of species divergence times. Plus conducting large scale and phylogenomic data analysis.
Jan – Sep 2018: Research and consulting for Agroproductos de Alto Valor, Mexico City, Mexico. Research on plant species cultivated in Mexico with high nutritional value for production of tortilla flours.
Oct – Dec 2017: Tree Planting Supervisor (volunteer) at Trees for Cities, London, UK. Supervision and support to the community people to plant trees.
Jan – Sep 2012: Research Assistant for Professor Susana Magallón at Intstitute of Biology, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico. Collection of wild specimens, DNA extraction, PCR amplification and sequencing of succulent plants.
Feb – July 2012: Researcher at Papalote Children’s Museum, Mexico City, Mexico. Natural History of Brossimum alicastrum.
Dec 2010: Visiting Researcher, Institute of Ecology, UNAM, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. Research on cactus pollination and collection of Cactaceae and Fouquieriaceae wild specimens.
Apr – May 2010: Visiting Researcher, Dessert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Collection of Cactaceae specimens from the botanical garden and preparation of herbarium specimens.
Jan – March 2009: Researcher, Verde Vertical, Mexico City, Mexico. Development of sustainable hydroponics.
Awards, Fellowships and Grants
2023: Gerstner Scholar in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, American Museum of Natural History Fellowship Award. Covering stipend and research expenses.
2013: 2011: UNAM Travel Grant to attend the Botany 2011 Congress, Botanical Society of America. St. Louis Missouri, USA. Covering flights and travel expenses.
2010: UNAM’s Postgraduate Studies Office Grant to visit the Institute of Ecology, UNAM, Hermosillo Sonora, México.
2010: UNAM’s Postgraduate Studies Office Grant to visit the Dessert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, AZ, USA. Covering flights and travel expenses.
2009 – 2012: CONACyT Master’s Degree Scholarship. Covering stipend and scholar fees.
Barba-Montoya J. Craig JM, Kumar S. Assembling the tree of life through the integration of chronology and phylogeny. 3rd Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology 2024. Montreal, Canada.
Barba-Montoya J. Sharma S, Kumar S. Molecular timetrees using relaxed clocks and uncertain phylogenies. Evolution 2023. Albuquerque, USA.
Barba-Montoya J. Relaxed-clock dating of evolutionary divergences with uncertain phylogeny. SMBEeverywhere 2022. (Virtual).
Barba-Montoya J. Sharma S, Kumar S. Relaxed-clock dating analysis with phylogenetic uncertainty. Evolution 2022. Cleveland, USA.
Barba-Montoya J. Tao Q, Kumar S. Assessing the performance and accuracy of rapid methods for phylogenomic dating. SMBE 2021. (Virtual).
Barba-Montoya J. Tao Q, Kumar S. Using a GTR+Γ substitution model for dating sequence divergence when stationarity and time-reversibility assumptions are violated. ECCB 2020. Barcelona, Spain. (Virtual).
Barba-Montoya J. The discrepancy of molecular and morphological clocks is largely imperceptible in divergence time estimation. EPIC 2019. Philadelphia, USA.
Barba-Montoya J, Tao Q, Kumar S. Comparison of species divergence time estimation using morphological and molecular characters. Evolution 2019. RI, USA.
Barba-Montoya J, dos Reis M, Schneider H, Donoghue PCJ, Yang Z. Constraining uncertainty in the timescale of angiosperm evolution and the veracity of a Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution. Phylogroup X 2016. London, UK.
Barba-Montoya J. Establishing a time-scale for angiosperm evolution. UCL-GEE Symposium 2015. London, UK.
Barba-Montoya J, dos Reis M, Yang Z. Angiosperm divergence times: a phylogenetic analysis of genome-scale datasets. 16th Young Systematists’ Forum 2014. Natural History Museum, London, UK.
Barba-Montoya J, dos Reis M, Yang Z. Angiosperm divergence times: a phylogenetic analysis of genome-scale datasets. LERN 2014. London, UK.
Barba-Montoya J, Magallón S, Trejo-Salazar R. Understanding arid Neotropical biodiversity: the timing and diversification rate of tribe Pachycereeae (Cactaceae, Caryophyllales). Botany 2011. St. Louis Missouri, USA. (Canceled).
Barba-Montoya J, Tao Q, Kumar S. Comparison and evaluation of rapid methods for phylogenomic dating. Second AsiaEvo Conference 2021. Tokyo, Japan. (Virtual).
Barba-Montoya J, dos Reis M, Schneider H, Donoghue PCJ, Yang Z. Constraining uncertainty in the timescale of angiosperm evolution and the veracity of a Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution. The Royal Society 2015. London, UK.
Barba-Montoya J, dos Reis M, Yang Z. Angiosperm divergence times: a phylogenetic analysis of genome-scale datasets. UK Plant Evolution 2014. Edinburgh, UK.
Barba-Montoya J, dos Reis M, Yang Z. Angiosperm divergence times: a phylogenetic analysis of genome-scale datasets. LERN 2014. London, UK. (Best poster award winner).
Barba-Montoya J, dos Reis M, Yang Z. Angiosperm divergence times: a phylogenetic analysis of genome-scale datasets. 15th Young Systematists’ Forum 2013. Natural History Museum, London, UK.
March 2024: AMNH Workshop — Introduction to ancient DNA data analysis. AMNH, New York, USA.
March 2018: NERC Short Course — Taxonomic Principles and Tools in Botanical Research. NHM, London, UK.
Nov 2015: Dating Species Divergence Using Rocks and Clocks. The Royal Society, London, UK.
Nov 2014: NERC Short Course — Species Distribution Modelling. GEE and CBER, UCL. London, UK.
Nov 2014: Radiation and Extinction — Investigating Clade Dynamics in Deep Time. The Linnean Society of London, London, UK.
May 2013: The Wellcome Trust advanced course — Computational Molecular Evolution. EMBL-EBI, Cambridge, UK.
Sept 2011: Climate Change Seminar — The Climate Project Org. Mexico City, Mexico.
Apr 2011: Advanced Course on Cactus propagation. Botanical Garden, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico.
Reviewer for Systematic Biology, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Journal of Molecular Evolution, and Genes. GitHub: github.com/josebarbamontoya?tab=repositories Figshare: figshare.com/authors/Jose_Barba-Montoya/834818 Instagram: @barba_jose_ Mastodon: @josebarba@ecoevo.social X: @barba_jose_Conference and Symposium Talks
Poster Presentations
Workshop and Professional Development
Peer-review
Data repositories and social network accounts
