• All Faculty
• Cell & Molecular Biology
• Organismal Biology
• Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Lorinda K. Anderson
Lisa M. Angeloni
Amy Angert
Michael F. Antolin
Mauricio Antunes
Cris Argueso
Patricia A. Bedinger
Daniel R. Bush
Gregory L. Florant
W. Chris Funk
Deborah Garrity
Cameron K. Ghalambor
Kim Hoke
Shane Kanatous
Ken Kassenbrock
Alan K. Knapp
June Medford
Janice Moore
Rachel L. Mueller
Donald L. Mykles
Dhruba Naug
Graham Peers
Marinus Pilon
Elizabeth A. H. Pilon-Smits
N. LeRoy Poff
A.S.N. Reddy
Arathi Seshadri
Mark Simmons
Melinda Smith
Stephen M. Stack
David A. Steingraeber
Joe von Fischer
Diana H. Wall
Colleen T. Webb
I am interested in the unique first division of meiosis. We use a variety of organisms, both plant and animal, to study this important and evolutionarily conserved process.
My research focuses on reproductive strategies and how they vary depending on individual and environmental traits. I work on factors that affect reproductive investment of hermaphrodites (e.g. sea slugs), life history strategies of smallmouth bass, and mating behavior of Trinidadian guppies.
My research explores how natural selection, environmental variation and functional tradeoffs contribute to adaptive diversification and yield the distribution and abundance patterns we observe in nature. I am currently studying these processes in a diverse group of western North American wildflowers (Mimulus) and in winter annuals of the Sonoran Desert.
My laboratory group works on the effects of fragmented and patchy populations in evolution, genetics, and ecology. Currently, we study the epidemiology of plague in natural populations of black-tailed prairie dogs and other small rodents on the short grass prairies of north-central Colorado, and are part of the Larimie Foothills Chronic Wasting Disease Project, where we study the genetics of CWD in mule deer in relation to spatial epidemiology and genetics http://www.nrel.colostate.edu/projects/modelingCWD/.
My research focuses on using the tools of Synthetic Biology to program plants and plant cells to perform controlled tasks, producing novel and useful traits.
I have an independent research program at the Department of Biology at Colorado State University, where I study the role of plant hormones in plant immunity.
The work in my laboratory centers on reproductive barriers between higher plant species, in particular between species wild tomatoes. We are examining the molecular and cellular nature of interspecific reproductive barriers (IRB).
My research focuses on sugar and amino acid allocation from sites of primary assimilation to import-dependent sinks in plants. This is a fundamental process that allows plants to function as multicellular organisms. We use molecular, genetic and biochemical tools to define the mechanisms and regulation of this essential process.
My research interests are centered on the mechanisms that animals use to adapt to different situations. Recent investigations have focused on animals that hibernate and the mechanisms they use to regulate energy stores.
I am broadly interested in questions in evolutionary ecology, population genetics, and conservation of amphibians and other vertebrates. Research foci include speciation; the interaction between landscapes, gene flow, and adaptive divergence; conservation genetics; and quantitative natural history. I address questions using an integrative approach that combines population genetics, phylogenetics, genomics, controlled experiments, ecology, and behavior.
In the early zebrafish embryo, dramatic cell movements are critical for establishing "territories" within the embryo that later give rise to organs and tissues. We are interested in the genes and mechanisms that direct these early morphogenetic movements of gastrulation. We also focus on how the embryonic heart differentiates chambers and acquires a regular rhythm of contraction. My lab uses developmental genetics, molecular biology and fluorescent and histochemical imaging techniques to investigate embryonic phenotypes.
My research is focused on the empirical study of adaptation in natural populations of birds and fish. I am particularly interested in how trade-offs are resolved during the process of adaptive evolution in life history, behavioral, and physiological traits. We use a variety of field and lab techniques to test and develop theory while also striving to understand the natural history of the organisms we study.
I am interested in the neural, developmental, and genetic mechanisms of behavior. I currently use both field and lab experiments to understand the mechanisms
of frog mating decisions. Ongoing projects relate variation in the brain to evolution of mate choice and speciation, integrating measures of neural function and behavior with studies of neural structure, development, gene expression, and quantitative genetics.
My research combines my expertise in exercise and skeletal muscle physiology with molecular techniques to focus on oxygen metabolism; especially on the control and regulation of skeletal and cardiac muscle adaptations to extreme environmental conditions such as hypoxia. The ultimate goal is to enhance our understanding of molecular changes associated with hypoxia and translate these results for therapeutic applications in the treatment of myopathies.
My research focuses on plants with a goal of understanding ecological patterns and processes from the leaf to the ecosystem level. Research is conducted primarily in the field utilizing the comparative approach and experimental manipulations of key ecological drivers. Areas of interest include:
plant physiological ecology, ecosystems ecology, climate change, long-term ecological research, invasive plant species, restoration ecology, fire and herbivory effects on communities and ecossytems.
We work on Plant Synthetic Biology. Synthetic Biology is forward engineering of biological organisms for specific purposes both basic and applied. On the basic side, we are using synthetic biology to understand complex natural processes such as signal transduction and pattern formation. On the applied side we are using synthetic biology to produce new types of plants and plant traits such as highly specific plant detectors, plants producing biofuels and plant actuators.
I am interested in the evolutionary ecology of parasite-host
interactions. I study the effects of parasites on animal behavior, as
well as the effects of parasites on other parasites in communities.
Currently, I'm especially intrigued by behavioral fever, and the fitness
costs and benefits associated with shifting body temperature.
I am interested in using molecular data to construct phylogenetic trees and using those trees to ask basic questions in evolutionary biology. My specific areas of interest are: the evolution of mitochondrial and nuclear genomes, morphological evolution and phylogenetic systematics of both salamanders and fishes, and methods for utilizing molecular data in assembling the Tree of Life.
My research concerns the regulation of molting and limb regeneration in crabs and lobsters. Specific areas are signaling mechanisms in the molting gland, phenotypic changes in skeletal muscle during lobster development, and proteolytic mechanisms mediating molt-induced claw muscle atrophy. Biochemical, immunocytochemical, and molecular biological methods are used.
I combine my interests in the behavioral and cognitive ecology of social groups and the individuals that comprise these societies to understand the dynamics of group living. My research consists of experimental work with social insects and modeling with computer simulations.
My primary interests lie in the fields of photosynthesis and algal eco-physiology. The lab will combine molecular biology, physiology and modern “–omics” techniques to discover novel ways that algae, cyanobacteria and plants collect light energy plus CO2 and convert it into biomass. These discoveries hold promise for improving photosynthetic yields of crops. In particular, I’m interested in the diversity of mechanisms that algae use to protect themselves from too much light and other abiotic stresses.
My lab investigates how the photosynthetic machinery in plants acquires the essential metal cofactors copper and iron. These metal ions are required for photosynthesis and thus plant productivity, yet they are toxic at too high concentrations. We use genetics together with whole plant physiology, cell and molecular biology and biochemistry in the model plant Arabidopsis to unravel the regulation of copper delivery and the assembly of iron-sulfur clusters in proteins.
In the Pilon-Smits lab we are interested in processes by which plants accumulate and detoxify environmental pollutants, as well as in ecological and evolutionary aspects of selenium hyperaccumulation. We study these processes from the molecular level to the field. Our approaches include genomics, genetics, biotechnology, biochemistry, whole-plant physiology, and ecological studies. These studies are aimed to gain knowledge about basic biological processes, but have applications for the use of plants for environmental cleanup or as fortified foods.
My research interests are guided by the broad consideration of how ecological processes and patterns are constrained by habitat structure and environmental variability at multiple scales in aquatic ecosystems. Our results provide a basis for predicting aquatic community attributes at geographic scales and for ecological responses to land-use alterations and regional climate changes.
One of the fundamental questions in plant biology is how plants sense and respond to environmental (abiotic and biotic) and hormonal signals that regulate diverse cellular processes and various aspects of plant growth and development. Our group has been studying i) calcium-mediated signal transduction mechanisms with emphasis on calcium sensors and their target proteins, ii) mechanisms that regulate basic and alternative splicing of pre-messenger RNAs in response to stresses, iii) disease resistance, iv) cell wall degrading enzymes for biofuel production and iv) synthetic signal transduction circuits in plants. We use molecular, cell biological, genetic, biochemical, bioinformatics and computational tools to accomplish our research goals. Arabidopsis, maize, potato and Miscanthus are used in our research. Studies on computational aspects of alternative splicing and protein-protein interactions are being done in collaboration with Asa Ben-Hur in the Department of Computer Science at CSU (http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~asa/projects.html).
I am interested in understanding how reproductive strategies are modulated as plants acclimatize to environmental stress. The central question is to understand whether novel trait expressions induced by the environment are adaptive and sufficient in magnitude to facilitate changes in breeding system.
My research program consists of two interrelated components: phylogeny
and taxonomy of the flowering-plant family Celastraceae (spindle-tree
family), and conceptual aspects of molecular phylogenetics. Molecular
phylogenetics uses genomic data (typically DNA sequences) to reconstruct
evolutionary relationships among species. This field is playing an
increasingly central role in biology, from inferring the diversification
of multigene families, to tracking invasive species, conservation of
protected species, as evidence in criminal investigations, and fighting
bioterrorism.
My research focuses on understanding the consequences of human-caused global changes, especially the impacts of climatic changes, biological invasions, eutrophication (e.g., increased N deposition), and altered disturbance regimes for biodiversity and ecosystem structure and function. Within this context, my research addresses questions about the functional roles of species in ecosystems, the causes and impacts of loss and gain of genetic and species diversity, the factors that influence species coexistence and patterns of species abundance, and the relative strength of bottom-up (resources) vs. top-down (consumers) controls in structuring communities. My research employs a mixture of empirical approaches (observational, experimental, comparative and synthetic) and utilizes C4-dominated grasslands as experimentally tractable and dynamic model systems.
Recombination nodules (RNs) are ellipsoidal particles lying on the central element of the synaptonemal complex (SC) during zygotene and pachytene of meiosis in eukaryotic organisms. RNs seem to reside at the sites of reciprocal recombination events in late pachytene nuclei. We are studying the temporal development, spatial distribution, and biochemistry of RNs and SCs.
My interest's center on the ecological significance of plant form and structure. Topics of study in my laboratory include the following: patterns of shoot development, branching, and leaf placement in different environments; modular and clonal growth; and the conservation and population biology of rare plants.
I am interested in the interactions of plants and microbes (with each other and with their environment) that affect the way ecosystems work. In order to study the inherently fragile, soil-plant-microbe systems with minimal disturbance, I use field and lab measures of biogeochemical processes, stable isotope and physical tracers, and frequently interpret these results with mathematical models. I also use molecular tools to characterize microbial community composition and understand the degree to which biogeochemical patterns are structured by ecophysiological differences among microbial communities. Work in my lab spans a variety of ecosystems including temperate grasslands, wetlands and Arctic tundra.
My research focuses on soil ecology and how soil invertebrate biodiversity influences ecosystem processes. Experimental research in field and lab measures factors affecting distribution patterns of soil animals at small to global scales and their influence on above-belowground linkages. A key aspect is understanding how soil biodiversity contributes to long term sustainability of soil ecosystems.
My research focuses on the evolution of traits important in ecological interactions. The interplay of evolutionary and ecological processes on different time scales can result in unexpected outcomes such as population extinction or ecosystem resilience. We use mathematical and computer simulation techniques to model these processes.
