Research
Research in the Department of Biology spans the entire breadth of biology: from ecology and evolution to molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. Our research is supported by a wide array of funding sources, including NIH, NSF and the Welch Foundation.
Many departmental faculty members actively participate in campus-wide interdepartmental graduate and research programs, including Genetics, Neuroscience, Molecular and Environmental Plant Sciences, and the newly formed faculty of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavioral Biology.
Biological Clocks
Bell-Pedersen Profile | Bell-Pedersen Lab Website
Molecular genetics and genomics of circadian clocks and signaling pathways in fungi
Neurobiology of mammalian circadian rhythms and their regulation by light-dark signals
Hardin Profile | Hardin Lab Website
Molecular biology of biological clocks in Drosophila; behavioral neurogenetics; transcriptional regulation.
Understanding the genes, neurons, and circuits regulating circadian rhythms in behavior and physiology
Merlin Profile | Merlin Lab Website
Molecular genetics and genomics of monarch butterfly circadian clocks and long-distance migration
Molecular and physiological basis of circadian-metabolic crosstalk in mammals
Developmental neurobiology; molecular determinants of synapse formation; neural regeneration; biological clock control of neural signaling