My lab is interested in understanding how genetics, cell physiology, ecology and evolution interact across spatial scales ranging from molecules to ecosystems to shape patterns of biocomplexity, biodiversity, and organismal design. We take an integrative, systems-based approach combining high-throughput experiments in the model eukaryote, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a.k.a. brewers yeast, with genetic engineering, computer simulations, bioinformatics and analytical modeling to address fundamental questions in evolution and ecology. This integrative approach allows us to formulate predictions using analytical theory, engineer strains that allow us to test our theory with experiments, and probe their generality with computer simulations. Current projects in the lab include investigating how competitors evolve into cooperators, how population structure and sex effect the maintenance of biocomplexity and biodiversity, how ecologically stable communities evolve over time, and how organisms can engineer their environments to modify the strength and direction of natural selection. With this approach we ultimately hope to gain insight into how biological systems evolve at all scales and how biodiversity is maintained in nature.
