Ryan Weaver

My research program focuses on the role of mitochondrial physiology in evolutionary processes such as adaptation, co-evolution of genomes, life-history evolution, and sexual selection. There are two specific aspects of mitochondria that are key to my research: 1) the canonical depiction of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) is not representative of most eukaryotes and 2) mitochondrial-nuclear interactions are required for mitochondrial function. My hypothesis-driven approaches to research bring a rotating cast of cool organisms into the lab including: marine copepods and other crustaceans, sea anemones and hydra, fungi, planarians, and tardigrades. I also use publicly-available data for bioinformatic and meta-analytic research.