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.
Cell, Molecular, & Developmental Biology
Cell and developmental biology; developmental genetics; development and differentiation in unicellular organisms; intracellular pattern formation
Bell-Pedersen Profile | Bell-Pedersen Lab Website
Molecular genetics and genomics of circadian clocks and signaling pathways in fungi
Phytoplankton ecology; phytoplankton community structure, population dynamics, and diversity
Criscione Profile | Criscione Lab Website
Ecology, evolution, and genetics of parasites
Sex determination in Drosophila; temporal and transcriptional controls in development; RNA silencing mechanisms
Astrocyte-neuron communication; Mechanisms of synapse development and function; Astrocyte function; Role of astrocytes in mood disorders
Garcia Profile | Garcia Lab Website
Genetics of behavior and development in C. elegans
Gomer Profile | Gomer Lab Website
Tissue size regulation, wound healing, and fibrosing diseases
Structure and biochemical organization of cells; membrane trafficking
Hardin Profile | Hardin Lab Website
Molecular biology of biological clocks in Drosophila; behavioral neurogenetics; transcriptional regulation.
Jones Profile | Jones Lab Website
Understanding the genes, neurons, and circuits regulating circadian rhythms in behavior and physiology
Molecular analysis of protein secretion in plants; plant genome organization and evolution
Merlin Profile | Merlin Lab Website
Molecular genetics and genomics of monarch butterfly circadian clocks and long-distance migration
Bacterial physiology, super-resolution fluorescence microscopy
Molecular mechanisms of C. difficile pathogenesis and exosporium-assembly of C. difficile spores
Nuclear pore complex assembly and nuclear envelope dynamics using yeast as a model system
Regulation of eukaryotic gene expression focused primarily on post-transcriptional control; functional analyses of fungi at the genome level
Cancer bioinformatics, Cancer Biology, Metabolomics, Nanotechnology
Molecular and physiological basis of circadian-metabolic crosstalk in mammals
Smith Profile | Smith Lab Website
Structural and functional characterization of natural products from microorganisms
Sorg Profile | Sorg Lab Website
Mechanisms of Clostridium difficilespore germination and bile acid resistance
Young Profile | Young Lab Website
Molecular genetics; bacteriophage lysis mechanisms; bacterial toxins
Zarin Profile | Zarin Lab Website
Developmental and experimental neuroscience; Formation and maintenance of sensory-motor circuits in Drosophila; Behavioral neurogenetics, neural circuitry underlying locomotor behaviors and action selection; Transcriptional regulation of neuronal properties
Developmental neurobiology; molecular determinants of synapse formation; neural regeneration; biological clock control of neural signaling