Our work is on the molecular evolution of protists, or single celled eukaryotes. Protists comprise the vast majority of eukaryotic diversity, but we know comparatively little about their biology or evolutionary history. We are using microscopy and molecular methods to look at various protist groups to understand their diversity, how they evolved, and what they tell us about eukaryotic evolution in general. Our main interests are to reconstruct ancient evolutionary relationships, to look at the diversity and ecology of heterotrophic eukaryotes, to examine how parasites evolve and infect their hosts, and how endosymbiosis affects both host and symbionts.
