Evolutionary Developmental Biology Faculty

We seek to understand how changes in developmental programs have shaped the evolution of morphological diversity.  Evolutionary developmental biology (EDB, but often called “Evo-Devo”) integrates traditional research on organismal evolutionary biology (systematics, paleontology, and comparative anatomy) with molecular embryology, genetics and genomics. EDB is a thriving new sub-discipline of biology with its own questions, approaches and methods. The field seeks to forge a unifying integration of genomic, developmental, organismal, population, paleontological and natural selection approaches to evolutionary change.

Cassandra Extavour
 

Cassandra G. Extavour

  • Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
  • Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology

extavour@oeb.harvard.edu
Extavour Lab

Evolution Faculty Evolutionary Developmental Biology Faculty

Evolution and development of reproductive systems, specifically the mechanisms of initial specification of primordial germ cells

Gonzalo Giribet

Gonzalo Giribet

  • Professor Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
  • Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
  • Curator-in-Charge of Invertebrate Zoology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology

ggiribet@g.harvard.edu
Giribet Lab

Evolution Faculty Biodiversity & Systematics FacultyEvolutionary Developmental Biology FacultyMathematical & Computational Biology Faculty

Evolution and biogeography of invertebrate animals, mainly arthropods and mollusks

James Hanken

James Hanken

  • Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
  • Professor of Biology
  • Curator of Herpetology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
  • Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology

hanken@oeb.harvard.edu
Hanken Lab

Evolution Faculty Biodiversity & Systematics FacultyEvolutionary Developmental Biology Faculty

Evolution of morphology, developmental biology, and systematics

 

Hopi Hoekstra

Hopi E. Hoekstra

  • Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
  • Harvard College Professor
  • Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
  • Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology
  • Curator of Mammalogy in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator

hopi_hoekstra@harvard.edu
Hoekstra Lab

Evolution Faculty Behavior Faculty Biodiversity & Systematics FacultyEvolutionary Developmental Biology FacultyNeuroethology & Behavioral Ecology FacultyPopulation & Evolutionary Genetics Faculty

Identifying and characterizing the molecular changes responsible for traits that affect fitness of organisms in the wild; using wild mice to study the genetic basis of morphological and behavior adaptation

Elena Kramer

Elena Kramer

  • Chair of the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
  • Bussey Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
  • Harvard College Professor

ekramer@oeb.harvard.edu
Kramer Lab

Evolution Faculty Biodiversity & Systematics FacultyEvolutionary Developmental Biology FacultyPopulation & Evolutionary Genetics Faculty

Molecular, morphological, and phylogenetic approaches are used to study how flowers have changed over the course of evolutionary time. A major focus is the development of Aquilegia (columbine) as a new system for studying evolutionary and ecological questions

Javier Ortega-Hernandez

Javier Ortega-Hernández

  • Assistant Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
  • Curator of Invertebrate Zoology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology

jortegahernandez@fas.harvard.edu
Ortega-Hernandez Group

Evolution Faculty  Evolutionary Developmental Biology Faculty Biodiversity & Systematics Faculty Paleobiology Faculty

Evolution, phylogeny and developmental paleobiology of Paleozoic invertebrates, particularly (eu)arthropods and their close relatives. Interested on the origin of major animal groups during the Cambrian Explosion and the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, as informed by exceptionally preserved fossils.

 

Mansi Srivastava

Mansi Srivastava

  • Assistant Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
  • Curator of Invertebrate Zoology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology

mans@oeb.harvard.edu
Srivastava Lab

Evolution Faculty Biodiversity & Systematics FacultyEvolutionary Developmental Biology FacultyMathematical & Computational Biology Faculty

Wound response and stem cell biology during regeneration in an evolutionary framework