Protist Systems Biology | Burns Lab – Protist Systems Biology

Protists

The word “protist” is a catch-all for incredibly diverse single-celled eukaryotes. There are protists related to plants, protists related to fungi, protists related to animals, and protists that form their own distinct lineages.

What we study

Symbiosis

How do cells from different branches of life interact? What molecules are exchanged? What mediates their interactions?

Biomineralization

How does life concentrate elements to seed and control mineral formation? What is the function of the complex forms created?

Evolution

How can studying diversity inform us of the link between information (DNA sequence) and form and function (phenotype)?

Projects

Ocean Exploration, Innovation, and Discovery

Building tools for the next generation of Ocean Discovery

The Plagiacantha Genome Project

A community effort to sequence the first radiolarian genome and establish Plagiacantha sp. as a model system.

Photsymbiosis in Spotted Salamander Eggs

The green alga Oophila amblystomatis grows inside the egg capsules of the spotted salamander, and in some cells, inside the embryo itself.

All projects →