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By: Dr. Andy Flick, scientific coordinator Evolutionary Studies Initiative  Big surprises can come from the smallest packages, for example, microbes. Assistant professors Drs. Megan Behringer and Benjamin Bratton have formed a collaboration to study the evolution of E. coli – funded by a pilot grant from the Evolutionary Studies Initiative… Read More

By: Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies Initiative scientific coordinator Audrey Arner, a first-year Ph.D. student in Dr. Amanda Lea’s lab, recently earned a pilot research grant from the Evolutionary Studies Initiative (ESI) to study the evolutionary mismatch hypothesis. Arner described evolutionary mismatch as, “the same allele that was beneficial in the… Read More

By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies Initiative scientific coordinator The Evolutionary Studies Initiative (ESI) has awarded seven grants to researchers in the initiative. These grants will seed new projects and collaborations. We highlight a quick snapshot of the variable and exciting projects below – with links to full stories on three… Read More

Knowing how life worked on Earth 550 million years ago can give perspective on how life could evolve on other planets. Geobiologist and Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Simon Darroch and postdoctoral researcher Brandt Gibson are working to figure… Read More

If you’ve ever had an ear infection that made you dizzy or unbalanced, the infection likely was affecting your vestibular complex—part of the intricate system of hard and soft tissues that make up the inner ear. Knowledge of this structure has been made possible through computed tomography scans—imaging technology… Read More

By Aaron Conley Houra Merrikh, professor of biochemistry, and Teru Nakagawa, associate professor of molecular physiology and biophysics, have both been selected to receive one-year research awards from the Stanley Cohen Innovation Fund. The awards will support groundbreaking and paradigm-shifting research, including Merrikh’s study of the molecular drivers of… Read More

Darwin’s On the Origin of Species put forth a seminal and revolutionary thesis for the life sciences in 1859: Populations with a common ancestor evolve over time with enough change to become different species that no longer successfully interbreed. This process of descent with modification continues over time to produce lineages of new species. Read More

Amateur birders and citizen scientists will soon have a novel way to contribute to groundbreaking research. With a new app, created and shared by the team at laboratory of Nicole Creanza, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences and @EvolutionVU member, researchers can better leverage crowdsourced fieldwork and audio recordings from… Read More

Hearing longer love songs from songbirds in your backyard? Chalk it up to sexual preference – and high standards. New research on songbirds from graduate students Cristina Robinson and Kate Snyder in the lab of Nicole Creanza, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences and Evolution@Vanderbilt member, suggests that females,… Read More

The Vanderbilt Evolutionary Studies Initiative is now official! The Initiative seeks to position the university as a global leader in evolutionary studies by engaging a large group of scholars who share this research-based interest. The program will also provide students and the community multiple opportunities to learn about the… Read More