Department of Biology at Colorado State University

Gul Shad Ali, Special Assistant Professor

Dr. Ali's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My research focuses on two areas: 1) To understand how alternative pre-mRNA splicing is regulated and to study the mechanisms by which alternative splicing affects plant development and physiology, and 2) to dissect calcium/calmodulin signaling pathways involved in plant-microbe interactions. Also, I am interested in translating knowledge gained through basic research into consumable products.

Lorinda K. Anderson, Assistant Professor

Dr. Anderson's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
I am interested in the unique first division of meiosis. We use a variety of organisms, both plant and animal, to study this important and evolutionarily conserved process.

Lisa M. Angeloni, Assistant Professor

Dr. Angeloni's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My research focuses on strategies of reproductive resource allocation and the way that animals optimally divide energy to maximize fitness depending on individual and environmental traits. I am currently studying factors that affect reproductive strategies of hermaphroditic animals (e.g. leeches and sea slugs), as well as life history strategies and nesting behavior of smallmouth bass.

Amy Angert, Assistant Professor

Dr. Angert's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My research explores how natural selection, environmental variation and functional tradeoffs contribute to adaptive diversification and yield the distribution and abundance patterns we observe in nature. I am currently studying these processes in a diverse group of western North American wildflowers (Mimulus) and in winter annuals of the Sonoran Desert.

Michael F. Antolin, Professor

Dr. Antolin's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My laboratory group works on the effects of fragmented and patchy populations in evolution, genetics, and ecology. Currently, we study the epidemiology of plague in natural populations of black-tailed prairie dogs and other small rodents on the short grass prairies of north-central Colorado.

Patricia A. Bedinger, Professor

Dr. Bedinger's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
The work in my laboratory centers on pollen development and function in higher plants, using Arabidopsis, tomato and maize as model organisms. Our major focus is on the molecular analysis of pollen and pistil proteins that mediate sexual recognition in higher plants via specific protein-protein interactions.

Daniel R. Bush, Professor and Chair

Dr. Bush's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My research focuses on sugar and amino acid allocation from sites of primary assimilation to import-dependent sinks in plants. This is a fundamental process that allows plants to function as multicellular organisms. We use molecular, genetic and biochemical tools to define the mechanisms and regulation of this essential process.

James K. Detling, Professor

Dr. Detling's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
Research in my lab focuses on how biotic and abiotic factors affect the structure and function of grassland ecosystems. We have been especially interested in determining the effects that herbivores have on individual plants, plant populations, plant communities, and nutrient cycling processes, as well as how other animals respond to these herbivore-induced changes. Another research interest concerns evaluating potential effects of global climate change on grassland ecosystems.

Gregory L. Florant, Professor

Dr. Florant's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My research interests are centered on the mechanisms that animals use to adapt to different situations. Recent investigations have focused on animals that hibernate and the mechanisms they use to regulate energy stores.

Deborah Garrity, Assistant Professor

Dr. Garrity's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
In the early zebrafish embryo, dramatic cell movements are critical for establishing "territories" within the embryo that later give rise to organs and tissues. We are interested in the genes and mechanisms that direct these early morphogenetic movements of gastrulation. We also focus on how the embryonic heart differentiates chambers and acquires a regular rhythm of contraction. My lab uses developmental genetics, molecular biology and fluorescent and histochemical imaging techniques to investigate embryonic phenotypes.

Cameron K. Ghalambor, Assistant Professor

Dr. Ghalambor's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My research is focused on the empirical study of adaptation in natural populations of birds and fish. I am particularly interested in how trade-offs are resolved during the process of adaptive evolution in life history, behavioral, and physiological traits. We use a variety of field and lab techniques to test and develop theory while also striving to understand the natural history of the organisms we study.

Shane Kanatous, Assistant Professor

Dr. Kanatous's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My research combines my expertise in exercise and skeletal muscle physiology with molecular techniques to focus on oxygen metabolism; especially on the control and regulation of skeletal and cardiac muscle adaptations to extreme environmental conditions such as hypoxia. The ultimate goal is to enhance our understanding of molecular changes associated with hypoxia and translate these results for therapeutic applications in the treatment of myopathies.

Alan K. Knapp, Professor

Dr. Knapp's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My research focuses on plants with a goal of understanding ecological patterns and processes from the leaf to the ecosystem level. Research is conducted primarily in the field utilizing the comparative approach and experimental manipulations of key ecological drivers. Areas of interest include: plant physiological ecology, ecosystems ecology, climate change, long-term ecological research, invasive plant species, restoration ecology, fire and herbivory effects on communities and ecossytems.

Paul Kugrens, Professor

Dr. Kugrens's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
Ultrastructural investigations on phytoplankton and heterotrophic flagellates are emphasized in my laboratory. We are studying the phylogeny, systematics and ecology of cryptomonads, an ecologically important group in Colorado, and other related protists, using scanning and transmission electron microscopy.

June I. Medford, Associate Professor

Dr. Medford's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
We are interested in Synthetic Biology of Plants. Synthetic Biology is forward engineering of biological organisms for specific purposes both basic and applied. On the basic side, we are using synthetic biology to understand complex natural processes such as signal transduction and pattern formation. On the applied side we are using synthetic biology to produce new types of plants and plant traits such as highly specific plant detectors, plants producing biofuels and plant actuators.

Janice Moore, Professor

Dr. Moore's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
I am interested in the evolutionary ecology of parasite-host interactions. I study the effects of parasites on animal behavior, as well as the effects of parasites on other parasites in communities. Currently, I'm especially intrigued by behavioral fever, and the fitness costs and benefits associated with shifting body temperature.

Rachel L. Mueller, Assistant Professor

Dr. Mueller's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
I am interested in using molecular data to construct phylogenetic trees and using those trees to ask basic questions in evolutionary biology. My specific areas of interest are: the evolution of mitochondrial and nuclear genomes, morphological evolution and phylogenetic systematics of both salamanders and fishes, and methods for utilizing molecular data in assembling the Tree of Life.

Donald L. Mykles, Professor

Dr. Mykles's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My research concerns the regulation of molting and limb regeneration in crabs and lobsters. Specific areas are signaling mechanisms in the molting gland, phenotypic changes in skeletal muscle during lobster development, and proteolytic mechanisms mediating molt-induced claw muscle atrophy. Biochemical, immunocytochemical, and molecular biological methods are used.

Dhruba Naug, Assistant Professor

Dr. Naug's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
I combine my interests in the behavioral ecology of social groups and the cognitive ecology of individuals that comprise these societies to understand the dynamics of social groups. My research consists of experimental work with social insects and modeling with computer simulations.

Marinus Pilon, Associate Professor

Dr. Pilon's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My lab investigates how the photosynthetic machinery in plants acquires the essential metal cofactors copper and iron. These metal ions are required for photosynthesis and thus plant productivity, yet they are toxic at too high concentrations. We use genetics together with whole plant physiology, cell and molecular biology and biochemistry in the model plant Arabidopsis to unravel the regulation of copper delivery and the assembly of iron-sulfur clusters in proteins.

Elizabeth A. H. Pilon-Smits, Associate Professor

Dr. Pilon-Smits's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
In the Pilon-Smits lab we study processes by which plants accumulate and detoxify environmental pollutants, from the molecular level to the field. Our approaches include genomics, genetics, biotechnology, biochemistry, whole-plant physiology, and ecological studies. These studies are aimed to gain knowledge about basic biological processes, and to create plants that may be used for environmental cleanup.

N. LeRoy Poff, Professor

Dr. Poff's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My research interests are guided by the broad consideration of how ecological processes and patterns are constrained by habitat structure and environmental variability at multiple scales in aquatic ecosystems. Our results provide a basis for predicting aquatic community attributes at geographic scales and for ecological responses to land-use alterations and regional climate changes.

A.S.N Reddy, Professor

Dr. Reddy's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
One of the fundamental questions in plant biology is how hormonal and environmental signals regulate cellular processes and various aspects of plant growth and development. We are interested in understanding the mechanisms by which plant cells sense and respond to various signals. Our current research activities are focused on three areas: i) calcium-mediated signal transduction mechanisms with emphasis on calcium sensors and their target proteins, ii) mechanisms that regulate basic and alternative splicing of pre-messenger RNAs, and iii) designing and testing of novel synthetic signal transduction circuits in plants.

Arathi Seshadri, Special Assistant Professor

Dr. Seshadri's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My research focuses on understanding the ecological and evolutionary bases of plant reproductive strategies. With comparative studies on reproductive ecology of plants, behavior of pollinators and the related plant life history traits, I try to obtain an understanding of the plasticity of floral characters in relation to resource limitation and pollination.

Mark P. Simmons, Associate Professor

Dr. Simmons's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My research program consists of two interrelated components: phylogeny and taxonomy of the flowering-plant family Celastraceae (spindle-tree family), and conceptual aspects of molecular phylogenetics. Molecular phylogenetics uses genomic data (typically DNA sequences) to reconstruct evolutionary relationships among species. This field is playing an increasingly central role in biology, from inferring the diversification of multigene families, to tracking invasive species, conservation of protected species, as evidence in criminal investigations, and fighting bioterrorism.

Stephen M. Stack, Professor

Dr. Stack's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
Recombination nodules (RNs) are ellipsoidal particles lying on the central element of the synaptonemal complex (SC) during zygotene and pachytene of meiosis in eukaryotic organisms. RNs seem to reside at the sites of reciprocal recombination events in late pachytene nuclei. We are studying the temporal development, spatial distribution, and biochemistry of RNs and SCs.

David A. Steingraeber, Associate Professor

Dr. Steingraeber's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My interest's center on the ecological significance of plant form and structure. Topics of study in my laboratory include the following: patterns of shoot development, branching, and leaf placement in different environments; modular and clonal growth; and the conservation and population biology of rare plants.

Joseph C. von Fischer, Assistant Professor

Dr. von Fischer's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
I am interested in the interactions of plants and microbes (with each other and with their environment) that affect the way ecosystems work. In order to study the inherently fragile, soil-plant-microbe systems with minimal disturbance, I use field and lab measures of biogeochemical processes, stable isotope and physical tracers, and frequently interpret these results with mathematical models.

Diana H. Wall, Professor

Dr. Wall's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My research focuses on soil ecology and how soil invertebrate biodiversity influences ecosystem processes. Experimental research in field and lab measures factors affecting distribution patterns of soil animals at small to global scales and their influence on above-belowground linkages. A key aspect is understanding how soil biodiversity contributes to long term sustainability of soil ecosystems.

Colleen T. Webb, Assistant Professor

Dr. Webb's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
My research focuses on the evolution of traits important in ecological interactions. The interplay of evolutionary and ecological processes on different time scales can result in unexpected outcomes such as population extinction or ecosystem resilience. We use mathematical and computer simulation techniques to model these processes.

Bruce A. Wunder, Professor (Transitional Retirement - Not accepting new students)

Dr. Wunder's Faculty Profile
Statement of Research:
We are interested in understanding ecological energetics, heat and water balance in animals, adaptation to seasonality, and feeding strategies. Although students work on separate studies, the main objectives in the lab at present are to elucidate the seasonal adjustments by which small mammals cope with the varying stresses of the high plains-mountain interface and the role of energetics in feeding strategies of these small mammals.