Organizers & Sponsors
Organizers
Katie Mika, PhD
Katie Mika is an assistant professor whose research utilizes cutting-edge molecular techniques on non-model and model marine organisms to elucidate the molecular underpinnings– both conserved and novel– of phenotypic evolution in the oceans. This includes surveying a breadth of marine appendage evolution and development using single-cell sequencing–from the model zebrafish pectoral fins to the cartilaginous skate wings, investigating adaptation to depth marine ecosystems, and exploring the influence of host gene expression on microbiome community composition in marine vertebrates.
Alex Kingston, PhD
Alex Kingston is an assistant professor of biological sciences who uses integrative and comparative approaches to address fundamental questions on the neurobiology and sensory physiology that guide invertebrate behavior. Her lab uses marine invertebrates to investigate the functional relationships among sensory systems and complex traits in an organismal context. Ongoing work in her lab focuses on how animals use their visual systems to interact with their environments & biological armor that dampens shock waves.
