Jose Barba-Montoya
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 and training in phylogenomics, programming languages (R and 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, evaluating, and implementing models and methods for phylogenomic analysis and species divergence time estimation, as well as conducting large-scale data analyses.
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. Assembling an accurate timetree of life: addressing sources of error and uncertainty. AMNH-RGGS Special Seminar 2024. New York City, USA.
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. Bayesian molecular clock dating and the divergence times of flowering plants and primates. Temple University 2018. Philadelphia, 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 Bluesky: @josebarba.bsky.social X: @barba_jose_Conference, Symposium, and Seminar Talks
Poster Presentations
Workshop and Professional Development
Peer-review
Data Repositories and Social Network Accounts
