Teaching

BIOL 4283/5283 Developmental Biology

Development is composed of a series of events and interactions that result in the formation of an individual from a single cell. This incredibly complex and dynamic process involves the differentiation and specification of cells, tissues, organs, etc. This course will explore these processes by analyzing the cellular and molecular dimensions of fertilization, embryogenesis, organogenesis, sex determination, metamorphosis, and regeneration. (Current students can access course materials through the Moodle site.)

BIOL 6000/8000. Special Topic: Evolution of Development and Disease, or related course (3 credits) (offered upon interest)

The processes of evolution in lineages result in both diversification and conservation. In recent years, the application of evolutionary analyses to sequence data, molecular pathways, and morphology has provided tremendous mechanistic insights and generated more specific hypotheses concerning how developmental processes change over time (producing biodiversity), how host-symbiont relationships form (mutualism – pathogenicity), and how common diseases in humans result from tinkering in pathways that originated very early in animal evolution. The course will explore a series of general topics, including:

1) the conservation of molecular pathways in animal development and modularity of these pathways in generating biodiversity,

2) the evolution of the immune systems in animals,

3) the evolution of pathogenicity, specifically animal pathogens

4) the mechanisms of developmental abnormalities (human and otherwise).

BIOL 4244/5244. Conservation Biology

Conservation biology is an integrative field of research and management aimed at understanding and preserving biological diversity. This course will explore a suite of inter-related topics including conservation values, extinction rates, genetic diversity, demography, habitat fragmentation, reserve management, and ecological restoration. These concepts will be integrated by understanding the application of and insights from molecular techniques. (Prerequisite: BIOL 3144 with a grade of C or above.)

BIOL 6140/8140. Evolutionary Biology (every spring semester)

Evolutionary biology is a central discipline in biology (and beyond). This graduate-level course will explore the central concepts and theories in evolutionary biology, mathematical approaches to understanding and predicting evolutionary trajectories, and explore latest developments in phylogenetics. In this course we will draw upon examples in developmental biology, diseases and pathology, medical treatments, and ecosystem processes to highlight how the processes of evolution can be understood and tested. (Prerequisite: Graduate Student in Department or Permission.)

BIOL 6000/8000. Special Topic: Symbiosis (3 credits) (offered upon interest)

Symbioses underlie a number of critical organismal systems critical to many ecosystems. In this graduate course we explore and critically analyze the primary literature to find common themes in symbioses, methods for understanding the mechanistic interactions between species, and evolution of repeated symbioses in particular lineages.

BIOL 6000/8000. Special Topic: Ecological Genomics (3 credits) (offered upon interest)

Sequence based approaches have opened incredible opportunities to understand the diversity of organisms on Earth and how these organisms "make a living" in their respective environments. This graduate course explores the latest advances in using various 'omic approaches to uncover and discover this diversity. We will primarily use the primary literature for this discussion-based course.

BIOL 6241/8241. Environmental Biology (3 credits)

Every organism lives in a dynamic environment, many of which are now impacted by humans. In this graduate course we explore concepts of biodiversity, conservation management, toxicology, epigenetics, and adaptation. This course is build around the use of new technologies to understand these organism-environment interactions.

Charlotte Teachers Institute. Nurturing Nature: Epigenetics as a Way to Explore Social Justice (2018)

Lenora Crabtree (PhD in Urban Education from UNC Charlotte) and I teamed up to offer a seminar for K-12 educators in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system on the role of epigenetics in explaining biological variation through the lens of social and environmental justice. You can find out more about this seminar here.