Student working on the genome project (Photo: UW)
Student working on the genome project (Photo: UW)

Comb jellies – and not sponges – may lay claim as the earliest ancestors of animals, according to Billie Swalla, University of Washington professor of biology an interim director of Friday Harbor Laboratories. Her contributions helped decode the genomic blueprints for 10 ctenophore – or comb jelly – species, an analysis that suggests these beautiful sea creatures form the first branch on the animal kingdom’s tree of life.

The findings published May 21 in Nature are based in part on analysis and work done at UW’s Friday Harbor Laboratories including research accomplished by UW undergraduates and graduate students who spent intense quarters in 2008, 2010 and 2012 living at the lab and collaborating with visiting and UW faculty on this specific endeavor.

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