Rachel Mueller Professor

Office: Biology 434

Phone: (970) 491-6717

Website: http://wp.natsci.colostate.edu/muellerlab

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=b30fh-wAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

Education

  • B.A., Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley
  • Ph.D., Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley
  • Postdoc, Organismal Biology and Anatomy, The University of Chicago

About

I am interested in three fundamental questions in evolutionary biology: (1) How do genomes evolve, particularly those at the extremes of genome size? (2) How do transposable elements shape genome biology and evolution? (3) How does genome size impact cell biology, organismal biology, and the evolutionary trajectories of lineages? My lab focuses on the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes of salamanders, both of which are greatly expanded relative to other vertebrate species. With collaborators, we also work on copepods and giant viruses. Our research combines genomic sequence data, simulations, phylogenetics, natural history collections, and fieldwork.