Department of Integrative Biology
NSF backs research collaboration to sequence Antarctic genomes
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $18.4 million to a collaborative team, including UC Berkeley Integrative Biology professor Rauri Bowie as the co-principal investigator, to create an extensive genetic database of over 250 Antarctic species and 600 ecosystem samples. Read the full story here.
Landen Gozashti: 2026-27 Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow
Landen Gozashti is a 2026-27 Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow from Peter Sudmant's lab who studies Mobile Genetic Elements (MGEs) as well as the molecular and evolutionary mechanisms that shape evolution. Read the full story here.
Rasmus Nielsen to receive Balzan Prize for research on molecular evolution
The International Balzan Foundation recognized Rasmus Nielsen, a professor of statistics and integrative biology at UC Berkeley, with its 2026 Balzan Prize for Molecular Evolution.
Clues to longevity may reside in the genomes of long-lived bats
Former UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow Juan Manuel Vazquez conducted a study in which the Myotis genus of bat was investigated for its exceptional ability to survive for long periods of time without disease closely linked to their members' hyperactive immune systems. Read the full story in Berkeley News.
Study Reveals How Avocados Reverse Sexes Throughout the Day
Postdoctoral fellow Jeffrey Groh led a study on the genetic explanation of avocado pollination. All avocado trees are hermaphrodites, but until now, it was unclear how avocado flowers function as female in the morning and male in the afternoon (A-type plants), while B-type plants follow the opposite pattern. Read the full story in UC Davis News.
North and South America weren't always connected, but their mammals still found a way to intermingle
IB professor Jack Tseng, former IB undergrad Leah Kahn, former visiting postdoctoral scholar Adolfo Pacheco-Castro, and collaborators at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles and the National Autonomous University of Mexico documented fossil evidence indicating that animals from different latitudes of North and South America intermingled before the formation of the Panamanian land bridge, which linked the two continents. Read the full story in Berkeley News.
Performance trade-offs define a fundamental dental dichotomy in mammals
Led by FAVE Lab NSF/Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow Narimane Chatar, alongside Huelsenbeck Lab PhD student Levi Raskin, former IB visiting scholars Alex Ramos and Melvin Vankelst, and IB professor Jack Tseng, the team published a paper on mammalian dental evolution. Read the full story, featured as the cover article in Science.