I am a graduate student in the Biological Sciences program [Behavior, Ecology, Evolution & Systematics (BEES) concentration] at the University of Maryland, College Park, and I am studying macroevolution and paleobiology jointly with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Paleobiology Department.
My background is in cell, molecular, and developmental biology, and before beginning graduate school I worked in the University of Virginia's Center for Cell Signaling studying cell polarity and mammary gland morphogenesis.
Research Interests
I am interested in the macroevolution of development; that is, how the process of development arose and evolved over geologic time. More specifically, I am interested in the developmental regulatory change that occurred during the Ediacaran (635-541 million years ago [Ma]) and Cambrian (541-488 Ma) periods. I will be incorporating developmental biology, genomics/phylogenetics, and fossil studies in my thesis work.
Animals (Metazoa) all undergo some variation of the process of developing from a small number of collective cells to a larger, more complex form. The patterning and spatio-temporal deployment of the genetic blueprint during development determines morphological phenotype and thus provides both foundation and opportunities for evolutionary change.
Fossil morphologies of the earliest complex macroscopic organisms – the Ediacara biota – as well as the earliest definitive metazoans of the Cambrian explosion are evidence of successful combinations of developmental traits not present in extant life, and by extension, evidence for developmental evolution beyond what comparative genomics might provide. I am evaluating early fossil morphologies within a developmental context in order to characterize early developmental toolkits. By placing comparisons of these toolkits within a robust phylogenetic and geologic framework, I hope to elucidate macroevolutionary patterns of developmental innovation.
Complex Systems Connections
Developmental gene regulatory networks (dGRNs) possess a unique hierarchical and modular structure. I hope to understand how this network structure evolved and how it subsequently shaped the course of animal evolution. I am looking forward to gaining the skills and forming the connections here at the CSSS to help me wrestle with this topic!
Also, most recent molecular clock results indicate that metazoan genetic developmental tools evolved long before the appearance of diverse bilaterian animals in the fossil record. Thus, the Cambrian explosion was likely primarily driven by changing ecology, which in turn allowed for the realization of this developmental potential. I would be interested in projects exploring the dynamics of ecological networks, but of course am open to many of the other ideas students have pitched thus far.
