Moran Laboratory: People

NANCY MORAN, Principal Investigator

Regents' Professor
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

My long-term interests are in the evolution of biological complexity, such as that apparent in complex life histories, in intimate interactions among species, and in species-diversity of clades and communities.

My focus is on symbiosis, particularly that between multicellular hosts and microbes.

Go to full statement of Research interests.
Go to Contact Information.

CURRENT LAB MEMBERS

HEATHER McLAUGHLIN

KERRY OLIVER

PERT Post-Doctoral Fellow
Center for Insect Science

I am generally interested in symbiotic associations between invertebrate animals and inherited microorganisms. Specifically, I am interested in insects that cooperate with microorganisms to aid in their defense.

JOHN McCUTCHEON

PERT Post-Doctoral Fellow
Center for Insect Science

I am currently working on sequencing the genomes of the bacterial symbionts from three xylem-feeding insects. All three of these insects host two bacterial symbionts, allowing some insight of the co-evolution of the bacteria among themselves as well as with their insect host.

ZAKEE SABREE

PERT Post-Doctoral Fellow
Center for Insect Science

My research seeks to describe the role of bacterial symbionts of phytophagous insects in nutrient acquisition, phytochemical detoxification and host insect self-defense strategies.

PATRICK DEGNAN

Doctoral Student
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

I am broadly interested in the evolution and maintenance of bacterial symbionts within animal hosts. Currently, I am using genome sequencing and gene expression to understand a protective symbiosis that occurs between a bacteriophage, an intracellular bacterium and aphids.

GAELEN BURKE

Doctoral Student
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

I am generally interested in the biology of aphid facultative symbionts in a variety of ecological settings. In particular, I am using a mechanistic approach to describe dynamics of a symbiont, Serratia symbiotica, in response to heat-shock and superinfection. I am also studying the evolution of Serratia symbionts within aphids.

KEVIN VOGEL

Doctoral Student
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

I am interested in the effects of symbiont evolution in host ecology and evolution using the aphid-Buchnera model system. I am currently examining how the evolution of Buchnera affects aphid host-plant use.

VINCE MARTINSON

Doctoral Student
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

JODI McCLOSKEY

Undergraduate Researcher

BRADON McDONALD

Undergraduate Researcher

ALEXANDER NO

Undergraduate Researcher

ALEXANDRA REEDY

Undergraduate Researcher

REBECCA McCALL

Undergraduate Researcher

KIM HAMMOND

Research Technician

BECKY NANKIVELL

Administrative Assistant

PAST LAB MEMBERS

DANIEL PAPAJ

Professor, Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology University of Arizona

CAROL VON DOHLEN

Associate Professor, Biology Department
Utah State University

BEN NORMARK

Associate Professor, Dept. of Plant, Soil, and Insect Sciences
University of Massachusetts, Amherst

DANIEL FUNK

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences
Vanderbilt University

JONAS SANDSTRÖM

Entomologist
The Swedish Species Information Centre

CLAUDE RISPE

Research Scientist
INRA (National Institute for Agricultural Research)
Le Rheu, France

JENNIFER WERNEGREEN

Associate Scientist, The Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution
The Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass.

ALEJANDRO MIRA

Researcher, Evolutionary Genomics Group
Universidad Miguel Hernández San Juan de Alicante, Spain

COLIN DALE

Assistant Professor, Department of Biology
University of Utah

JENNIFER WILCOX

Veterinary student
University of Wisconsin, Madison

GORDON PLAGUE

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences
Fordham University

EMMANUELLE LERAT

Researcher, Laboratoire Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive
Université Claude Bernard - Lyon I
Lyon, France

MARIANA MATEOS

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
Texas A&M University, College Station

ALEX C. C. WILSON

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biology
University of Miami, Florida

ATSUSHI NAKABACHI

Miyagishima Initiative Research Unit
Frontier Research System
RIKEN, Japan

NICOLE GERARDO

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biology
Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia

FORMER GRADUATE STUDENTS

JUDE GLASS

(M.S., Entomology 1991)

Biology Teacher, Vail Middle School
Tucson Unified School District

GOGGY DAVIDOWITZ

(Ph.D. 1998)

Assistant Research Scientist, Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
University of Arizona

MARGARET WILCH

(M.S., Biology 1999)

Biology Teacher, Tucson Magnet High School
Tucson Unified School District

JOHN STIREMAN

(Ph.D. 2001)

Assistant Professor
Wright State University

PATRICK ABBOT

(Ph.D. 2001)

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences
Vanderbilt University

JACOB RUSSELL

(Ph.D. 2004)

Post-Doctoral Fellow
Harvard University