Population & Evolutionary Genetics Faculty

We study variation within and between populations at the molecular and phenotypic levels. We strive to understand the evolutionary forces molding genetic variation in natural populations and the mechanistic basis of phenotypic evolution. Our study systems vary from microbes to animals and plants, and to mathematical theory.

Scott Edwards

Scott V. Edwards

  • Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
  • Curator of Ornithology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
  • Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology
  • Co-Director of Graduate Studies

sedwards@fas.harvard.edu
Edwards Lab

 

Evolution Faculty Behavior Faculty Biodiversity & Systematics FacultyMathematical & Computational Biology FacultyNeuroethology & Behavioral Ecology FacultyPopulation & Evolutionary Genetics Faculty

Evolutionary biology of birds and relatives, combining field, museum and genomics approaches to understand the basis of avian diversity, evolution and behavior

Brian D. Farrell

Brian D. Farrell

  • Professor of Biology
  • Curator of Entomology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology

farrellb@oeb.harvard.edu
Farrell Lab

 

Evolution Faculty Ecology Faculty Biodiversity & Systematics FacultyNeuroethology & Behavioral Ecology FacultyPopulation & Evolutionary Genetics Faculty

Rates, directions and consequences of evolutionary diversification, as well as the marks of evolutionary history on community structure; interactions between various tiny consumers and their hosts, such as beetles and plants or mosquitoes, pathogens and vertebrates

Daniel L. Hartl

Daniel L. Hartl

  • Higgins Professor of Biology
  • Professor in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases

dhartl@oeb.harvard.edu
Hartl Lab

 

Evolution Faculty Mathematical & Computational Biology FacultyPopulation & Evolutionary Genetics Faculty

Interface between evolution, molecular biology and genomics

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

 

Robin Hopkins

Robin Hopkins

  • Assistant Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

rhopkins@fas.harvard.edu
Hopkins Lab

Evolution Faculty Biodiversity & Systematics FacultyNeuroethology & Behavioral Ecology FacultyPopulation & Evolutionary Genetics Faculty

Speciation in plants, predominantly focused on reinforcement, the process in which reduced hybrid fitness generates selection for the evolution of reproductive isolation between emerging species

 

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

James Mallet

 

James Mallet

  • Distinguished Lecturer on Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

jmallet@oeb.harvard.edu
Mallet Lab

 

Evolution Faculty Biodiversity and Systematics FacultyPopulation and Evolutionary Genetics Faculty

Evolution, genomics, hybridization, and speciation - mainly in butterflies

Martin A. Nowak

Martin A. Nowak

  • Professor of Mathematics and Biology
  • Director of the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics

Nowak Lab

Evolution Faculty Behavior Faculty Mathematical & Computational Biology FacultyPopulation & Evolutionary Genetics Faculty

Initiated the field of virus dynamics which led to quantitative understanding of HIV infection; evolution of cooperation

Pardis Sabeti

Pardis Sabeti

  • Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

pardis@broadinstitute.org
Sabeti Lab

Evolution Faculty Mathematical & Computational Biology FacultyPopulation & Evolutionary Genetics Faculty

 

Genomic signals and mechanisms of evolutionary adaptation in humans and microbial pathogens

 

John Wakeley

John Wakeley

  • Professor Of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

wakeley@fas.harvard.edu
Wakeley Lab

Evolution Faculty Mathematical & Computational Biology FacultyPopulation & Evolutionary Genetics Faculty

Mathematical and statistical population genetics, especially coalescent theory