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 interdisciplinary graduate research programs, including Genetics & Genomics, Neuroscience, Molecular and Environmental Plant Sciences, and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.
Physiology & Systems Biology
Bard Profile | Bard Lab Website
Post-transcriptional RNA regulation during viral infection and tumorigenesis; function and regulation of stress-induced biomolecular condensation
Cryptic speciation; evolution of reproductive isolation; body size evolution; species packing and community assembly; range determinants; comparative physiological ecology; integrative evolutionary ecology
Molecular basis of phenotypic variation and adaptation, Role of repetitive genome in evolution of sexual dimorphism and sexual conflict
Neurobiology of mammalian circadian rhythms and their regulation by light-dark signals
Gomer Profile | Gomer Lab Webpage
Tissue size regulation, wound healing, and fibrosing diseases
Subcellular signaling and Cell/Organism transport of sterols and regulation of sterol metabolism in plants
Jones Profile | Jones Lab Website
Understanding the genes, neurons, and circuits regulating circadian rhythms in behavior and physiology
Uncovering mechanistic links between emotional states, biological timing, sleep, and development of chronic diseases using interdisciplinary approaches.
Identifying how neuron connectivity, physiology, and function vary to generate the sex and species-specific courtship song behaviors in Drosophila melanogaster.
Functional genetics of human disease variants using Drosophila models; Mechanisms of lipid droplet formation in the brain; Neuron-glia interactions
Paredes-Sabja Profile | Paredes-Sabja Lab Website
Molecular mechanisms of C. difficile pathogenesis and exosporium-assembly of C. difficile spores
Molecular and physiological basis of circadian-metabolic crosstalk in mammals
Stress survival by the bacterium E. coli, development of an ontology of microbial phenotypes
Smotherman Profile | Smotherman Lab Webpage
Neurobiology of animal communication: sensory-motor integration
Sorg Profile | Sorg Lab Website
Mechanisms of Clostridium difficilespore germination and bile acid resistance