Natural Sciences
Showing 1-100 of 696 Results
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T. Bertie Ansell
Postdoctoral Scholar, Biology
BioBertie is a post-doc within the labs of Dr. Peter Dahlberg (SLAC) and Prof. Kabir Peay (Stanford). They are a current Schmidt Science Fellow researching the mechanisms of plant-microbial symbiosis within soil.
Bertie completed their PhD at the University of Oxford (UK) under the supervision of Prof. Mark Sansom and Prof. Christian Siebold. -
David Armenta
Lecturer
BioDavid Armenta is a Lecturer in the Department of Biology. He earned his bachelor's degree in molecular and cellular biology from Harvard University. Working as an undergraduate intern in the lab of Andrew Murray, he studied mechanisms underlying evolution and adaptation in budding yeast. Next, he earned his PhD in Biology (cells, molecules, and organisms track) from Stanford University, working with Scott Dixon to study how amino acid metabolism regulates sensitivity of cancer cells to the nonapoptotic cell death mechanism of ferroptosis. Next, he taught for 3 years as a Lecturer in the the Civic, Liberal, and Global Education (COLLEGE) program. Now, he is excited to be teaching with the Biology Department!
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Patricia Ayala Macias
Undergraduate Student Services Manager, Biology
Current Role at StanfordUndergraduate Student Services Officer
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Christopher O. Barnes
Assistant Professor of Biology and, by courtesy, of Structural Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch in our lab is aimed at defining the structural correlates of broad and potent antibody-mediated neutralization of viruses. We combine biophysical and structural methods (e.g., cryo-EM), protein engineering, and in vivo approaches to understand how enveloped viruses infect host cells and elicit antigen-specific immune responses. We are particularly interested in the co-evolution of HIV-1 and broadly-neutralizing IgG antibodies (bNAbs), which may hold the key to the development of an effective HIV-1 vaccine. In addition, we are investigating antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 and related zoonotic coronaviruses (CoV), with the related goal of developing broadly-protective immunotherapies and vaccines against variants of concern and emerging CoV threats.
HIV-1; SARS-CoV-2; coronaviruses; cryo-EM; crystallography; vaccines; directed evolution -
Kathryn Barton
Associate Professor, Biology
Consulting Professor, BiologyCurrent Research and Scholarly InterestsPlants make new leaves and stems from clusters of undifferentiated cells located at the tips of branches. These cell clusters are called apical meristems. We study transcription factors that control growth and development of apical meristems. Our studies include plants growing in environments rich in water and nutrients as well as in poor environments. The deeper knowledge of plant development gained from these studies will ultimately help increase food security in a changing environment.
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Stefan Oliver Bassler
Postdoctoral Scholar, Biology
BioStefan is a Bridging Excellence Postdoctoral Fellow in the Petrov lab at Stanford University and in the Aulehla & Steinmetz labs at EMBL (2025-now). He is fascinated by how evolution can be used to probe the genomic plasticity of biological systems. During his PhD with Nassos Typas at EMBL supported by the Joachim Herz Add-on Fellowship, he mapped the Genomic landscape of resistance evolution by performing high-throughput resistance evolution of the genome-wide KO library in E. coli. He discovered that evolvability genes constrain resistance evolution through gene-gene and gene-gene-drug interactions. In his postdoctoral work, he will Assess the inter-kingdom conservation of lifespan variants evolved in yeast.
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Rodrigo Bello Carvalho
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2023
BioI am a field biologist deeply passionate about wildlife ecology and conservation. My academic and professional journey bridges research, fieldwork, and environmental stewardship across some of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems.
My work focuses on understanding the functional role of megafauna (large-bodied vertebrates) in shaping tropical ecosystems through processes such as frugivory, herbivory, and seed dispersal. I am particularly interested in how savanna biodiversity, structure, and functioning respond to the loss of megafauna (defaunation), and how ecological insights can inform restoration and conservation strategies in a rapidly changing world.
I hold a Master’s degree in Biodiversity Conservation and Management from the University of Oxford (2021), and graduated with honors in Biological Sciences (B.Sc., 2017) and Biology Teaching (B.Ed., 2018) from the University of BrasÃlia (UnB). My ecological journey began at UnB’s Ecosystem Ecology Lab (2014–2018) under Prof. Mercedes Bustamante, where I first engaged with Cerrado ecology and savanna dynamics.
Driven by a commitment to applied conservation, I worked at the BrasÃlia Zoological Garden Foundation (2018) and taught Science and Biology in BrasÃlia’s private schools (2019), experiences that deepened my belief in connecting ecological science and conservation with communities.
At Oxford’s Ecosystems Lab (2020–2021), I studied defaunation and seed dispersal in the Cerrado, working under Dr. Imma Oliveras and Prof. Yadvinder Malhi. I later joined Brazil’s national environmental agency (ICMBio) as an Environmental Analyst and Park Ranger (2022–2023), where I was based in the Western Brazilian Amazon, engaging in biodiversity monitoring, sustainable management of natural resources, and frontline conservation enforcement of three Conservation Units within the Purus River Basin.
Currently, I am pursuing a PhD in Biology at Stanford University in the Dirzo Lab, where my research explores megafauna-ecosystem interactions across Brazilian and African savannas, with a focus on how defaunation reshapes ecosystems. I also collaborate with UNESP’s Bird Ecology Lab on frugivory, seed dispersal, and ecological restoration in the Atlantic Forest. -
Dominique Bergmann
Shirley R. and Leonard W. Ely, Jr. Professor of the School of Humanities and Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe use genetic, genomic and cell biological approaches to study cell fate acquisition, focusing on cases where cell fate is correlated with asymmetric cell division.
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Barbara Block
Charles and Elizabeth Prothro Professor of Marine Sciences, Professor of Oceans and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThermal physiology, open ocean predators, ecological physiology and tuna biology
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Yvonne Boesch
Postdoctoral Scholar, Biology
BioYvonne received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from ETH Zurich and obtained her PhD in Biology, specializing in fungal denitrification, from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Uppsala under the guidance of Prof. Sara Hallin.
In January 2025, she joined the Peay Lab as a postdoctoral scholar, supported by the Swedish Wallenberg postdoctoral scholarship program.
Yvonne is fascinated by the intricate interactions among microbes and their relationships with higher organisms, such as plants. Her research focuses on exploring how these complex relationships impact plant health, forest productivity, and resilience in the face of changing environments. -
Carol Boggs
Bing Director in Human Biology, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am interested in how environmental variation affects life history traits, population structure and dynamics, and species interactions in ecological and evolutionary time, using Lepidoptera.
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Adrien Burlacot
Assist Prof (By Courtesy), Biology
BioAdrien Burlacot is an algal physiologist specialized in the study of photosynthesis and bioenergetics of algal cell. Adrien is a physicist by training, he received a BS and MSc in Engineering from the Ecole polytechnique (France) and a MSc in Plant Biology from the University of Paris-Saclay (France). He then obtained a PhD in Plant Science at the CEA Cadarache (France) from the Aix-Marseille University (France) where he studied the regulations of the photosynthetic electron flow in green microalgae. After a postdoctoral position in 2021 at the University of California, Berkeley (USA) with Krishna K. Niyogi were he studied photoprotection in plants and algae, he started his lab at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford on fall 2021.
Microalgal photosynthesis is fixing annually ten times more CO2 than what humans reject. Acclimation to abiotic stress is a major driving force of microalgal community structure and productivity. Adrien investigates how microalgal photosynthesis dynamically acclimates to fluctuations in environmental parameters like light, CO2 or temperature. He will be using and developing high throughput screens based on quantitative chlorophyll fluorescence to understand the dynamics of photosynthesis. Adrien aims at unravelling the network of photosynthesis acclimatory genes and their bioenergetic role in the cell. He wants to use this knowledge and the new tools developed to propose new ways of harnessing photosynthesis for a more sustainable world. -
Xiaoke Chen
Associate Professor of Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur goal is to understand how brain circuits mediate motivated behaviors and how maladaptive changes in these circuits cause mood disorders. To achieve this goal, we focus on studying the neural circuits for pain and addiction, as both trigger highly motivated behaviors, whereas, transitioning from acute to chronic pain or from recreational to compulsive drug use involves maladaptive changes of the underlying neuronal circuitry.
