I am interested in studying protein evolution from a structuralist approach. My research evaluates how intramolecular epistasis modified the fitness effects of historical substitutions in the evolution of the essential chaperone Hsp90.
I study how species in marine systems respond and adapt to shifting ecosystem processes, how these shifts influence community genetic variability and population structure, and impacts on ecosystem productivity as a result from climate change.
I am broadly interested in using genetic/genomic tools to study how species interactions drive diversification, with a particular focus on parasitic and herbivorous insects.
I integrate genomic analyses and functional experiments in Drosophila species to probe several facets of new gene origination: molecular mechanisms that give rise to young genes, their use of existing translational machinery, and their functions.
I am interested in studying quantitative microbial ecology to explore how specific species interactions, such as host-microbe relationships, drive community structure and function.
I am broadly interested in the functional diversity of marine communities: how it evolved, how it changes across environmental gradients, and how it is being altered by human activity.
My main research interests are behavioral ecology and population ecology. Through the empirical experiments, my goal is to understand how organisms react to the changing world and further give a framework of species’ vulnerability to climate change.
