brief research overview
We are interested in the genetic and neural bases of sensory evolution.
• How do closely related species (or populations) come to differ in their ability to sense and/or respond to common environmental stimuli?
• What are the genes and neurons involved in these changes?
• What are the evolutionary forces governing the modifications?
We are also interested in evolutionary genomic topics, including local adaptation and the evolution of gene families. These themes often overlap with our sensory biology questions and result in cross-disciplinary approaches that draw on tools from molecular neurogenetics, comparative genomics, and physiology. Currently, the sensory modalities we are investigating are olfaction and temperature sensing, both of which evolve quickly and are often involved in local adaptation. To do this work we utilize diverse Drosophila species and populations from around the globe.
more detail on the projects here