Research

Our lab is broadly interested in plasticity and evolution of life history strategy and aging, with a focus on transgenerational inheritance of phenotype. We combine perspectives and methods from ecology, biological oceanography, evolution, and molecular biology to investigate how environment and genetics together determine and an organism’s lifespan, reproduction, and health phenotypes. We are particularly interested in understanding how a parent’s physiology and environment affects the phenotype of their offspring, potentially across multiple generations. We strive to uncover the molecular mechanisms, organismal outcomes, and implications for populations and evolutionary fitness of maternal effects. Our research uses monogonont rotifers as a study system. Check out our current projects: