Postdoc:
Christy Walcher-Chevillet

Grad Students:

Foen Peng

Octavio Campos

Undergrads:

Marissa Craig

Josue Cuevas

Eric Frank

Lakshmi Panjini

Technician:

Collaborators:

Doug Schemske

Jeff Riffell

John Willis

Todd Vision

Lila Fishman

Y. Sam

Toby's research interests are in the detailed molecular genetic basis of adaptive evolution in natural populations, particularly the origin of new species resulting from premating reproductive isolation.  In his spare time he roams the Great Basin with his Harris's hawks, in search of jackrabbits.

Foen is interested in the diversification of gene function through duplication and sub/neofunctionalization. His first year in the lab was spent knocking out all of the MYB genes expressed in Mimulus flowers! In his free time he plays sports, travels, and writes Matlab code.

Octavio (co-advised by Tom Daniel) is creating artificial flowers with a 3-D printer to explore the morphological features that promote visitation and pollination by hawkmoths. Octavio has received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

Brian has two principal jobs in the lab -- taking care of thousands of Mimulus plants in the greenhouse, and worrying.  He likes to give impromptu history lessons on the ancient world, so that we are not condemned to repeat their mistakes.

This is an F2 flower from a cross between M. lewisii and M. cardinalis.  Doug Schemske and Toby Bradshaw photographed this flower illuminated by ultraviolet light, revealing the unmistakable image of a well-known Warner Bros. cartoon character.

Nature Associate Editor Christopher Surridge rejected our manuscript describing this phenomenon, writing, "We fear however that these [serious scientific points] are far outweighed by the deluge of potatoes looking like Richard Nixon."