Our lab is interested in how organisms adapt to their ecological or behavioral niche. We emphasize a curiosity-based approach in which specialized, unconventional systems are exploited to reveal fundamental principles in signal transduction, ion channel biophysics, and evolution. We aim to understand how these molecular mechanisms impact organismal physiology and behavior.
Press
Latest Publications
"A sensory system for mating in octopus" Science
Male octopuses use a specialized arm called the hectocotylus to identify females and navigate their internal organs to reach the oviduct and deliver
sperm. Here, we discovered that the hectocotylus is a dual sensory and mating organ that uses contact-dependent chemosensation of progesterone, a conserved ovarian hormone. We identified chemotactile receptors for progesterone and resolved the structural basis for their evolution from ancestral neurotransmitter receptors and subsequent expansion and tuning across cephalopods.
