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Jeffrey Tomkins

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Jeffrey Tomkins is a "research associate" at the Institute for Creation Research. He has a PhD in genetics and master's degree in plant sciences from Clemson University and the University of Idaho respectively.[1][2]

His research for the ICR tends to be genetics related, and concentrated in 2011 on the genetic similarity between humans and chimpanzees. He made much of his research's apparent discovery that the similarity between humans and chimps was 'merely' 86-89%. In 2012 his ICR News article on the sequencing of the Gorilla genome, Gorilla Genome Is Bad News for Evolution,[3] was attacked on Pharyngula as failing to understand the science.[4]

Tomkins is known for his usage of "ungapped" comparisons to depress the percentage similarity between the human and chimpanzee genomes. This method relies on aligning the beginnings of two DNA sequences, and measuring whether subsequent base pairs at corresponding positions match one another. The flaw in this method is that insertions, duplications or deletions in either sequence may cause parts of it to be shifted forward or backward relative to the other, so that equivalent sets of base pairs are not precisely aligned with one another in the comparison. Ungapped comparisons interpret those parts of the two sequences as entirely mismatched even if there are no other differences between them.[5]

His latest project is apparently on the "concept of genetic diversity in biological adaptation."[6]

See also[edit]

CreationWiki.png

References[edit]

  1. Bio on icr.orgimg.
  2. Linkedin profile.
  3. Gorilla Genome Is Bad News for Evolutionimg
  4. A tiny bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing
  5. Keesey, T. M. "Three Histories of the Human Body", pp. 241-244. In: Kane, J. and E. Willoughby (eds.) God's Word or Human Reason?: An Inside Perspective on Creationism, 2nd edition. Inkwater Press, 2020.
  6. Mechanisms of Adaptation in Biology: Molecular Cell Biologyimg