All Research

Genome evolution, polyploidy, duplicate gene fates and evolution, evolution of gene regulation, transcriptomics, alternative splicing, non-coding RNAs

Plant evolutionary ecology; geographic range limits and rarity; population dynamics and community structure.

Molecular phylogenetic studies of fungi and evolution of fungal life history stategies.

Plant molecular biology, genomics and biochemistry. Natural products and chemical ecology of forest trees.

The study of plant form using the techniques of comparative genomics, molecular developmental biology and evolutionary biology.

Ecology and evolutionary biology; the distribution of biodiversity and the challenges posed to its conservation through recent changes to the environment.

Genome evolution, spliceosomal intron evolution, parasitic adaptation - focusing on microsporidia, a highly derived group of parasitic fungi.

Systematics and evolution of vascular plants, focusing on using DNA sequence data to infer relationships at deep and recent levels of seed plant, angiosperm and monocot phylogenetic history.

Plant Developmental Genetics. Molecular genetics of seed coat development in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Early eukaryote evolution, molecular phylogeny, protistology.

Molecular genetic and biochemical studies of seed lipid and epicuticular wax metabolism and their regulation in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Marine invertebrate zoology, protozoology, evolutionary morphology & phylogenetics.

Life cycle transitions of sexual eukaryote; Molecular mechanisms of nutrient sensing in phototrophic eukaryotes; Ubiquitin-dependent mechansism for chloroplast quality control; Evolution of developmental/epigenetic mechanisms; Macroevolutionary transitions from prokaryotes to eukaryotes and from green algae to land plants; Mitigating climate change by engineering algae for efficient carbon capture and biofuel production.

Utilizing a combination of molecular genetics, biochemical and genomics approaches to understand the natural resistance mechanisms of plants against microbial pathogens including fungi, bacteria, and viruses. 

Spider systematics and evolution.

Marine phycology; biomechanics of macroalgae.

Plant physiological ecology, macroecology, fire behavior and effects

Microbiome of coastal marine organisms; eukaryotes in the microbiome

Adaptation, Domestication, Crop Evolution, Hybridization, Speciation, Weed Evolution

Characterization of ER-PM contact site components involved in plant stress tolerance

Plant cell biology, cellular basis of secretion of plant cell wall components; lignification in xylem development; ABC transporters and cuticle secretion

plant genomics, environmental stresses, seed development, gene expression

The biology of viruses that infect marine phytoplankton and bacteria, and the role of these viruses in population dynamics and geochemical cycles.

Aquatic and Insect Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

• ​​We investigate the effect of changing environments on insect and aquatic communities
• We use field and laboratory experiments, syntheses of published literature, and natural history collections to investigate ecological and evolutionary responses to climate and habitat change
• Our work is grounded in ecological and evolutionary theory and we tackle both basic and applied questions

Plant Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics; organization of the cytoskeleton and its role in cell wall formation, intracellular motility and growth anisotropy in the higher plant Arabidopsis thaliana and the characean algae; plant responses to abiotic and endogenous signals.

Plant molecular systematic and evolution; the evolution of asexual polyploid complexes in higher plants.

We are interested in how local resistance and systemic acquired resistance are regulated in plants.