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  • Field Work

    Many genes that organisms use to regulate their mutualists are also used to defend against parasites and pathogens. The shared genetic control of beneficial and harmful symbioses raises the intriguing possibility that susceptibility to infection is a pleiotropic cost of mutualism. Our goal is to understand how a genetic tradeoff between attracting mutualists and repelling parasites has shaped the genomic architecture of traits mediating species interactions, and how ongoing conflict influences adaptation. 

  • Larix siberica

    Siberian Larch, taken at our field site near Lake Khovsgol in north-central Mongolia.  We are analyzing tree-ring width and stable isotopes of the tree rings to reconstruct climate, and Larch responses to climate change, over the past century as the temperature in Mongolia has risen.  

  • Bacterial Respiratory Complex

    Structural model of a bacterial respiratory complex III: remember that when you respire, your complex III perspires to produce your body's energy.

  • ERK1/2 signaling pathway

     ERK1/2 signaling pathway regulates exocytosis and tumor invasion through phosphorylation of the exocyst complex. 

  • Drosophila

    Drosophila are small flies, typically pale yellow to reddish brown to black, with red eyes. Many species, including the noted Hawaiian picture-wings, have distinct black patterns on the wings. The plumose (feathery) arista, bristling of the head and thorax, and wing venation are characters used to diagnose the family.

Biology is fundamental to our changing world. The 21st century challenge for our students, our scholars, and the greater society is to understand our place in this changing world and to create fundamental knowledge for informed policies, economies, and social structure.

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Upcoming Events



The evolutionary origins of cortical cell types

Dr. Maria Antonietta Tosches, Columbia University
- | Levin Building Auditorium (Tedori Family Auditorium)

The long-term vision of the Tosches lab is to unravel fundamental principles governing vertebrate brain evolution, using neuron types as the units of analysis and comparison across species.…



Dynamic interplay between tRNA processing and transport: A case for tunable modifications

Dr. Juan Alfonzo, Brown University
- | Levin Building Auditorium (Tedori Family Auditorium)


The plant phyllosphere microbiome in health and disease

Dr. Britt Koskella, UC Berkeley
- | Levin Building Auditorium (Tedori Family Auditorium)

Twitter: @bkoskella