Research

We are an integrative biology department that cultivates interactions that traverse traditional interdisciplinary boundaries.  We actively recruit scientists who delight in spanning spatial, temporal and complexity scales from molecular to cellular to organismal to population to ecosystem, using the most powerful approaches to address Biology’s most pressing questions. 

We pursue research and teaching in four overarching and interactive programs, each focused on issues central to Biology and addressing challenges faced by humanity.

 

Neuroscience & Behavior

We ask how the nervous system and behavior develop and are maintained, using a gamut of experimental and analytical approaches from molecular and cellular to the complex interplay between cells, tissues and behavior.  Our analyses reveal how organisms sense their environment, move and interact.  Faculty working in Neuroscience include:  Baker, Collins, Browne, Dallman, Lu, Mora-Kepfer Uy, Skromne, Searcy & Tosney.

 

Development & Diseases

We use organisms selected for their unique phylogenetic position or their experimental utility to uncover fundamental genetic and cellular underpinnings of development and homeostasis, and ask how alterations to these processes can lead to evolutionary changes or disease.  Faculty working in Development and Disease include:  Baker, Browne, Collins, Dallman, Lu, Skromne, Tosney, Van Dyken, Wikramanayake and Wilson.

 

Tropical Biology

We ask how the unparalleled diversity found in the tropics is generated and maintained.  We examine interactions at levels ranging from interspecific symbioses to system-wide mega-phenomena.  Our approaches include unique applications of genetic, development, physicochemical and modeling techniques.  Faculty working in the Tropics include:  Browne, DeAngelis, Gaines, Horvitz, Janos, McCracken, Mora-Kepfer Uy, Sealey, Searcy, Sternberg, Tosney, Uy & Whitlock.

 

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

We ask how genes, genomes and the environment interact to produce phenotype, and how processes like natural selection, in turn, act on these diverse forms and behaviors.  Faculty working in Evolution include:   Afkhami, Browne, DeAngelis, Gaines, Horvitz, Janos, McCracken, Mora-Kepfer Uy,  Sealey, C. Searcy, W. Searcy, Sternberg, Uy, Van Dyken, Whitlock, Wikramanayake & Wilson.