Microbes often compete for resources in large, complex communities. How do these communities shape evolution, and vice versa? I incorporated small-step evolution into community assembly theory — describing the "typical" behavior of large random communities — to address this question. Now published in Nature Communications.

In large, rapidly adapting populations, beneficial mutations can compete with each other over long timescales. But natural environments can change on similar timescales, reshaping evolutionary pressures. I am developing mathematical tools to predict how environmental fluctuations determine the fate of competing mutations with different fitness tradeoffs.

In my undergraduate work with Ned Wingreen, I studied piRNAs of C. elegans and related organisms, which have a key role in silencing nonself sequences. By analyzing the sequence distribution and binding preferences of piRNAs, I found that piRNAs are capable of targeting a wide range of sequences through functionally random targeting. Now published in Nucleic Acids Research.