Assistant Professor

Address: 

Education 

B.Sc.: Rhodes College, 1996
M.Sc.: Texas State University, 2000
Ph.D.: University Of Maryland, College Park, 2008
Postdoctoral Fellow: University Of Alabama at Birmingham, 2010

Research Interests

In the broadest sense my research seeks to elucidate the number, location, and the distribution of effects of genes, and the forces that govern these distributions, on traits of organisms in populations.  To address these questions, I have used a variety of statistical genetic approaches including traditional variance components models of pedigreed populations, quantitative trait locus (QTL) studies and large panels of single nucleotide polymorphisms genotyped in human beings.  My particular interest is inference of genetic effects on the complex disease, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and using these genetic signals to predict in independent samples whether individuals have varying severity of disease or respond differently to RA therapies.  As a complex disease, environmental effects such as smoking have large effect on RA, and I also have an interest determining if genetic effects on disease might be context-dependent on the environment.   Furthermore, genetic effects may also be contextual on genotypes at other loci, and I aim to estimate these gene by gene interaction effects.  These analyses sometimes require sophisticated statistical approaches with large computational burden.  Thus, in addition to statistical methods application I also develop methods when circumstances require it.  The ultimate goal of the research is to make use of the rich genetic tools and resources and the kind willingness of people to participate in research in order to improve the understanding and treatment of complex diseases such as RA.
 

Selected Publications

 
Hughes LB, Reynolds RJ, Brown EE, Kelley JM, Thomson B, Conn DL, Jonas BL, Westfall AO, Padilla MA, Callahan LF, Smith EA, Brasington RD, Edberg JC, Kimberly RP, Moreland LW, Plenge RM, Bridges SL Jr. 2010. Most common single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with rheumatoid arthritis in persons of European ancestry confer risk of rheumatoid arthritis in African Americans. Arthritis Rheum. 62(12):3547-53. doi: 10.1002/art.27732. PMID: 21120996

 
Hughes LB, Reynolds RJ, Brown EE, Kelley JM, Thomson B, Conn DL, Jonas BL, Westfall AO, Padilla MA, Callahan LF, Smith EA, Brasington RD Jr, Edberg JC, Kimberly RP, Moreland LW, Plenge RM, Bridges SL Jr. 2010. Most common SNPs associated with rheumatoid arthritis in subjects of European ancestry confer risk of rheumatoid arthritis in African-Americans. Arthritis Rheum. 2010 Oct 22. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 20973039

 
Mikuls TR, Sayles H, Yu F, Levan T, Gould KA, Thiele GM, Conn DL, Jonas BL, Callahan LF, Smith E, Brasington R, Moreland LW, Reynolds RJ, Bridges SL Jr. 2010. Associations of cigarette smoking with rheumatoid arthritis in African Americans. Arthritis Rheum. 62(12):3560-8.  PMID: 20722010

 
Li, J, R.J. Reynolds, D. Pomp, D.B. Allison, N. Yi. Mapping Interacting QTL for Count Phenotypes Using Hierarchical Poisson and Binomial Models: an Application to Reproductive Traits in Mice. Genetics Research. 2010. 92(1):13-23. PMID: 20199696

 
Reynolds, R.J., D. Childers, and N. Pajewski. The distribution and hypothesis testing of eigenvalues from the canonical analysis of the gamma matrix of quadratic and correlational selection gradients. Evolution. doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00874.x

 
Reynolds, R.J., J. Kelley, L. Hughes, N. Yi, and S.L. Bridges. 2010. Genetic association of htSNPs across the major histocompatibility complex with rheumatoid arthritis in an African American population. Genes and Immunity 11:94-97 PMID: 19741715

 
Reynolds, R.J., M.R. Dudash, C.B. Fenster. 2009. Multi-year study of multivariate linear and nonlinear phenotypic selection on floral traits of hummingbird-pollinated Silene virginica. Evolution 64:358-369 PMID: 19663992

 
Reynolds, R.J., M.J. Westbrook, A.S. Rohde, J.M. Cridland, C.B. Fenster, and M.R. Dudash. 2009. Pollinator specialization and pollination syndromes of three related North American Silene. Ecology 90: 2077-2087 PMID: 19739370

 
Reynolds, R.J. and C.B. Fenster. 2008. Point and interval estimation of pollinator importance: A study using pollination data of Silene caroliniana Oecologia 156: 325-332 PMID: 18283498

 
Kephart, S., R.J. Reynolds, M.T. Rutter, C.B. Fenster, and M.R. Dudash. 2006. Pollination and seed predation by moths on Silene and allied Caryophyllaceae: Evaluating a model system to study the evolution of mutualisms. New Phytologist 169: 637-651 PMID: 16441748