Biology Faculty Research Interests

We encourage Biology majors to collaborate with faculty on developing a research project. If you are interested in any research described, you should contact faculty via email to enquire if there is availability in their labs. Below are the tenure-track/tenured faculty with research programs: 

Prof. Sophie Archambeault: evolution and development of adaptive traits. Prof. Archambeault studies threespine stickleback fish to identify mutations that underlie adaptation, and understand how those genetic changes affect developmental processes to produce new phenotypes. 

Prof. Jennifer Dever: identification of cryptic frog species using molecular and morphological methods. Specifically, Prof. Dever utilizes DNA sequencing to delineate unknown species in order to conserve threatened populations in Southeast Asia. She is a Research Associate of the California Academy of Sciences in the Herpetology Department.

Prof. Deneb Karentz: marine plankton ecology and environmental policy. Prof. Karentz studies the impacts of ozone depletion on marine plankton in Antarctica and is a science advisor to the Antarctic Treaty System. She is also involved in evaluating the role of DNA damage and repair in the development of cancer in humans, collaborating with scientists at UCSF. 

Prof. Sangman Kim: the interaction between host and microbes in human health and disease. Specifically, Prof. Kim is interested in how our immune systems recognize and distinguish between different types of microbes (including pathogens as well as our microbiota) on the molecular level.

Prof. Mary Jane Niles: development of B lymphocytes, a population of cells critical to protective immunity. Prof. Niles’s research focuses on defining the molecular events that promote the assembly, transport, and secretion of antibodies.

Prof. Scott Nunes: juvenile and lifespan development of mammalian behavior and adaptive benefits of behavior in mammals. Current work examines adaptive benefits of play behavior in juvenile ground squirrels in the Sierra Nevada.

Prof. John Paul: ecology and evolution of flowering plants. Prof. Paul integrates field ecology, species-distribution modeling, molecular phylogenetics, and population genomics to understand the factors regulating the relative abundance and geographic distribution of plant species.

Prof. Meredith Protas: evolutionary genetics of cave animals. Prof. Protas studies the isopod crustacean, Asellus aquaticus, which has both cave and surface dwelling forms that differ in eye size and degree of pigmentation. Her lab investigates the genetic mechanisms of eye and pigment loss in multiple populations of this species.

Prof. James Sikes: evolution and development of regeneration and asexual reproduction. Prof. Sikes focuses on developmental mechanisms that allow some flatworms to regenerate and the molecular developmental processes that have led to the diversification of asexual reproductive strategies.   

Prof. Sevan Suni: evolutionary ecology of plants and pollinators. Prof. Suni’s current research combines field ecology, lab experiments, and molecular genetics to investigate how environmental changes such as habitat fragmentation, drought, and non-native species' introductions affect evolutionary dynamics and conservation status of populations.

Prof. Nicole Thometz: physiological ecology of marine mammals. Prof. Thometz utilizes a variety of laboratory and field-based techniques to understand the physiological capacities and limitations of a variety of marine mammal species. Areas of interest include energetics, diving physiology, and foraging behavior.

Prof. Christina Tzagarakis-Foster: molecular biology of the DAX-1 protein, a member of the nuclear hormone receptor family. Dr. Tzagarakis’s research is focused on investigating the mechanism of transcriptional repression by DAX-1 as well as examining the role of DAX-1 in preventing growth of cancer cells and tumors.

Prof. Naupaka Zimmerman: microbial ecology of the plant microbiome. Prof. Zimmerman investigates the ubiquitous group of fungi, known as fungal endophytes, that live inside of healthy plant leaves without causing disease. His research includes field work, greenhouse studies, molecular analyses, and bioinformatic approaches.