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John Abbott
Curator of Entomology, Texas Natural Science Center, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer
email
web site
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My research focuses primarily on the biodiversity, biogeography and biology of Odonata (dragonflies & damselflies), particularly in North America and the New World tropics. My interests, however, vary widely. I also work on Lamellicorn beetles, forensic entomology, and the use of insects as biological indicators. I am Curator of Entomology for both the Texas Natural History Collections (Texas Natural Sci more
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Daniel Bolnick
Assistant Professor
email
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I am interested in understanding the ecological and evolutionary basis of variation within and among populations, and how such variation influences speciation. To address such questions, I combine theory, observational studies of natural populations, field and laboratory experiments, and population genetics. In particular, research focuses on three areas: 1) the patterns and causes of resource use variation more
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James J. Bull
Johann Friedrich Miescher Regents Professor in Molecular Biology
email
web site
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see section bio for more info
Evolutionary genetics from the molecular to the phenotypic levels comprises the bulk of my research. Specific topics include the evolution of virulence, evolutionary robustness and redundancy, the genetic basis of adaptation, and phylogeny reconstruction. Experimental systems are developed in which evolution o more
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David P. Crews
Ashbel Smith Professor of Integrative Biology, and Psychology
email
web site
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see section bio for more info
One of my research programs focuses on sex determination
as a case study in how evolution has produced very different mechanisms for achieving the same end. Here I take advantage of the fact that in many reptiles the sex of the offspring depends on the incubation temperature of the egg, a process known as tem more
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Christine Hawkes
Assistant Professor
email
web site
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Hawkes lab website
Research in the Hawkes Lab is focused on a mechanistic understanding of how plant-microbe interactions affect community and ecosystem processes. We explore how these relationships are influenced by alterations in climate, species invasions, and land use. This research is highly integrative and relies on a wide range o more
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David Hillis
Alfred W. Roark Centennial Professor In Natural Sciences
Director, Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
email
web site
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see section bio for more info
Evolutionary biology provides a conceptual framework for understanding patterns of molecular diversity. For instance, phylogenetic analyses have permeated most fields of molecular biology in recent years, from studies of the epidemiology of human immunodeficiency viruses to studies of the origin of life. Work more
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Hans A. Hofmann
Assistant Professor
ICMB Fellow
email
web site
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The research in Dr. Hofmann's laboratory seeks to understand the molecular and hormonal mechanisms that underlie social behavior and its evolution. African cichlid fishes are an ideal model system to address these questions because of their recent, repeated and rapid radiations that have resulted in hundreds of phenotypically diverse species. Our work uses a broad spectrum of approaches, ranging from ecolog more
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Robert Jansen
Sidney F. and Doris Blake Centennial Professor In Systematic Botany and the Blake Collection
email
web site
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see section bio for more info
My primary research interests involve the determination
of phylogenetic relationships among plants and the evolution of the chloroplast genome. Research in my lab is concentrated in three areas: (1) organization and evolution of chloroplast genomes; (2) computational methods for comparative
chloroplast geno more
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Thomas Juenger
Assistant Professor, Integrative Biology
Ph.D.
email
web site
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see section bio for more info
My research focuses on the interface of ecological and evolutionary processes in natural plant populations. I am generally interested in phenotypic evolution, and have studied a number of systems over the course of my career. A current focus in the lab is the identification and characterization of genes unde more
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Mikhail Matz
Assistant Professor, Integrative Biology
email
web site
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We are a molecular biology and genomics lab working on (i) biofluorescence and (ii) evolution in the marine environment. We address a wide range of issues, including:
- molecular biology and ecology of fluorescence in marine organisms;
- resurrection of ancestral proteins and recreation of protein evolution pathways;
- artificial design of fluorescent proteins;
- a more
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Lauren Ancel Meyers
Assistant Professor in Integrative Biology
email
web site
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see section bio for more info
Using a combination of theory, simulation, and microbial experimentation, Meyers and her students are working on problems at the interface of evolution and epidemiology. First, they are applying network theory, agent-based simulation, and other quantitative tools to study the interplay between infectious
dis more
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Ian Molineux
Professor in Molecular Genetics & Microbiology
email
web site
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Our major interest is understanding how nucleic acids pass through lipid bilayers. Our model system is bacteriophage T7, which uses three different motor proteins to transport its DNA into the cell at the initiation of infection. The phage ejects proteins into the cell that make a channel for DNA transport across the cell envelope and constitute the first molecular motor. We are characterizing this chann more
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Ulrich Mueller
W.M. Wheeler Lost Pines Professor in Integrative Biology
email
web site
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Dr. Mueller's research aims at understanding the evolution of organismal interactions, particularly the evolution of mutualisms and the evolution of social conflict and cooperation. Current research focuses largely on the coevolution between fungus-growing ants and their fungi, but Dr. Mueller admits to an inordinate fondness for social insects in general.
Evolution, Ecology & Behavior of Social Insects: more
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Eric R. Pianka
Denton A. Cooley Centennial Professor
email
web site
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see section bio for more info
My interests are ever changing but have included population and community ecology, evolutionary ecology, natural history of desert lizards, resource partitioning, reproductive tactics, foraging theory, allocation, design constraints, thermoregulation, metapopulations, historical accident and biogeography, species more
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William Press
Professor of Computer Sciences and Integrative Biology
Warren J. and Viola M. Raymer Chair
email
web site
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My work is in computational biology, especially whole-genome studies. My collaborators and I develop and test new algorithms for finding and characterizing functional sequence, and for understanding evolutionary pressures affecting whole genomes. I am also interested in biostatistics, especially data mining on large experimental data sets, and in computational algorithms generally.
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R. H. Richardson
Professor, Ph.D.
email
web site
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see section bio for more info
Our research focus is soil ecology, particularly the "mesofauna" between worms and fungi scales. An important restoration "tool" of grasslands/prairies are livestock that simulate the role of bison herds for keeping microniches for seedling development and light optimized on leaf areas. Dung beetles are important more
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Sahotra Sarkar
Professor, Ph.D.
Integrative Biology and Philosophy
email
web site
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The major thrust of our research is in systematic biodiversity conservation and restoration planning, in particular, the design of conservation area networks. However, we are interested in all areas of computational and mathematical biology, especially ecology and conservation biology.
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Sara Sawyer
Assistant Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
email
web site
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Evolutionary changes driven by historical viral epidemics have left a molecular “fossil record” in our DNA sequence. Our goal is to learn about natural strategies that have been successful at beating viruses in the past, and how these might be exploited in the fight against modern viral attacks. We are using a broad array of techniques from molecular evolution, virology, experimental evolution, and comparat more
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Marty Shankland
Professor in Molecular Cell & Developmental Biology
email
web site
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Our lab investigates the cellular events that underlie the spatial patterning of embryonic body plans, and the way in which those pattern-forming mechanisms have evolved during the history of bilaterally symmetric animals. Most of our work focuses on the pattern formation of annelid worms, especially leeches of the genus Helobdella
whose embryonic development involves a stereotyped
cell lineage. We are cu more
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Peter Thomas
Professor, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist, Marine Sci Institute
email
web site
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My research interests are the endocrine control of reproduction in fishes and other vertebrates and the effects of environmental factors such as hypoxia and pollutants on reproductive function. Research is conducted at the Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas and at field sites in the Gulf of Mexico region. A research emphasis is on the structure, functions and evolution of a new class of sex steroid r more
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Tandy Warnow
Professor in Computer Sciences
email
web site
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Phylogenies (i.e. evolutionary trees) are fundamental to our understanding of evolution, and their inference
is a major part of research in many areas of biology. With the production of increasing amounts of biomolecular
sequence data, we are reaching a moment where the bottleneck in phylogenetics is not the quantity of data, but its analysis. The most frequently used techniques for reconstructing trees f more
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Claus Wilke
Assistant Professor
PHD
email
web site
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Wilke works in the areas of computational and theoretical biology. His research can be broadly subdivided into three areas: (1) molecular evolution, (2) evolution of RNA viruses, (3) theoretical population genetics.
1. One of the major open questions in molecular evolution is to identify the dominant constraints that shape protein evolution. The commonly held view is that most constraints are caused b more
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Harold Zakon
Professor in Neurobiology
email
web site
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Ion channels are fundamental for the workings of the nervous system. We study the function, regulation, and evolution of voltage-dependent ion channels. Our main focus has been to study the regulation of sodium and potassium channels by hormones such as testosterone, estrogen, and by phosphorylation. A major emphasis of the laboratory has been cloning these ion channel genes and understanding their transcri more
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