FAU’s Department of Biological Sciences houses research labs working on a wide spectrum of organisms, from fruit flies and worms to turtles and sharks. Areas of interest include developmental biology, conservation biology, marine biology, physiology, animal behavior and morphology/evolution. Undergraduate and graduate students are studying how organisms communicate, pick their mates, move and migrate. Students are learning how animals and plants interact and evolve. Studies are being conducted on the molecular mechanisms behind why organisms sleep and age and the genetics behind how animals think and behave.
FAU’s Department of Biological Sciences faculty members view integration of disciplines as a defining characteristic to understanding scientific principles. The department offers a Ph.D. Program in Integrative Biology, Masters degrees and Bachelors degrees.
| Name | Area of Emphasis | Institution | Ajemian, Matthew | Fisheries ecology and conservation | FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute | Assis, Raquel | Data science applications in evolutionary genomics | FAU College of Engineering and Computer Science | Barenholtz, Elan | Psychophysical and computational approaches to visual and multisensory perception and recognition. | FAU Psychology and Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences | Beckler, Jordon | Developing and applying autonomous biogeochemical sensing technologies to constrain fundamental elemental cycling mechanisms and rates in redox environments | FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute | Besser, Lilah | Investigating social and built environments and brain health across the life course, neighborhood environments that can help maintain cognitive function into older ages, reduce ADAD risk, and allow for aging in place | FAU Urban and Regional Planning; FAU Institute for Human Health and Disease Intervention | Bidaye, Salil | Neuronal control of locomotion | Max Planck Florida Institute | Bildstein, Keith | Avian ecology | Acopian Center, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary | Blakely, Randy D. | Synaptic Genetics, Neurochemistry and Pharmacology; Animal Models of Neuropsychiatric Disorders; Transporter Proteins and Psychoactive Drugs | FAU Brain Institute | Brandt, Laura | Wetland ecology, alligators | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services | Chaves-Fonnegra, Andia | Processes that structure marine habitats, especially coral reefs ecosystems; interactions among organisms and the surrounding environment; reproduction, evolution and connectivity of populations, particularly of sponges, corals and algae; how ecosystems and ecological interactions are altered by anthropogenic activities | FAU Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College | Curet, Oscar | Biological propulsion, the interconnection of fluid dynamics and animal locomotion, biomimetics, energy harvesting, bat flight, fish swimming, and direct simulation of freely swimming fish. | FAU Ocean and Mechanical Engineering | Dawson-Scully, Ken | Neurobiology of cellular stress and neuroprotection using live cell imaging, electrophysiology and behavior genetics | Nova Southeastern University | Detwiler, Kate | Primate hybridization and speciation, molecular primatology, primate behavioral ecology, conservation of African monkeys and their rainforest habitats | FAU College of Arts and Letters | Du, Sarah | Biosensors and microfluidics for the study of cell biomechanics and biophysics, crossing disciplines by utilizing microfabrication, biosensing techniques, soft matter mechanics, biomaterials, and cell biology | FAU Ocean and Mechanical Engineering | Duboue, Erik | Effects of early stress on brain circuitry and function and the etiology of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | FAU Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College | Engeberg, Erik | Biomedical and Bioinspired robotics, sensors, actuators, control systems | FAU College of Engineering and Computer Science | Ghoraani, Behnaz | Biomedical signal analysis, data science, machine learning, deep learning, long-term and continuous health monitoring, remote and personalized therapeutic management, Cardiac electrophysiology, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease | FAU College of Engineering and Computer Science | Goodbody-Gringley, Gretchen | Understanding how coral reef ecosystems function in order to maintain biodiversity; health, evolution, and resilience of coral reefs, ranging from shallow inshore reefs to the mesophotic zone | Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences | Grant, Patrick | Chromatin Biology and Epigenetics | Biomedical Science, FAU Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine | Hahn, William | Deep learning neural networks, sparse modeling, compressed sensing, adversarial networks, and reinforcement learning models of brain function. | FAU Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences | Hallstrom, Jason | Sensing systems, data management, affective computing, software engineering | FAU College of Engineering and Computer Science | Herzing, Denise | Marine mammal behavior | Wild Dolphin Project | Hueter, Robert | Anatomy, physiology, behavior, ecology, and fisheries biology of sharks worldwide | Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium | Inagaki, Hidehiko | Neural dynamics and cognitive functions | Max Planck Florida Institute | Isom, Daniel | pH regulation of cell signaling, drug discovery, informatics | Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, University of Miami | Kang, Kevin | Biomaterials, stem cell and tissue engineering, and bone regeneration. | FAU Ocean and Mechanical Engineering | Kelso, Scott | Mechanisms of self-organization underlying the coordination of brain and behavior. | FAU Psychology and Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences | Khamoui, Andy | Use of pre-clinical mouse models and human subjects to study cancer cachexia, skeletal muscle biology, exercise physiology, and mitochondrial function in health and disease. | FAU Exercise Science and Health Promotion | Klofstad, Casey | Societal and biological influences on human behavior | Department of Political Science, University of Miami | Levy, Arkene | Understanding mechanisms of resistance in cancer and development of combination treatment strategies | College of Medical Sciences, Nova Southeastern University | Macleod, Greg | Mitochondrial support of neurotransmission, pH influences on synaptic plasticity, neurotransmission and aging | FAU Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College | Mansfield, Kate | Marine biology and vertebrate zoology with an emphasis on sea turtle ecology, behavior, habitat use, and conservation | University of Central Florida | Mari, Frank | Peptides and proteins of marine origin, especially those from predatory venomous mollusks belonging to the genus Conus (cone snails), biochemically and functionally characterize components of interest | Hollings Marine Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology | McCoy, Krista | Understanding how environmental pollutants alter development, physiology, and behavior, and to devise ways to ameliorate their negative effects- from molecules to populations. | FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute | Miller, Debra | Pathology of wildlife and exotic species (especially amphibians, sea turtles and marine mammals) | Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, University of Tennessee | Osman, Rick | Ecology of populations and communities of marine and estuarine animals that live on the seafloor or in the seafloor sediments | Smithsonian Environmental Research Center | Page, Damon | Genetic regulation of growth and connectivity in the developing brain, and how cognition is shaped by the interplay of these "hard-wiring" processes and adaptation via plasticity. | The Scripps Research Institute | Page-Karjian, Annie | Investigating the epidemiology, pathogenesis, and disease ecology of infectious diseases and neoplasia of marine mammals and turtles. | FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute | Pavlovic, Mirjana | Bioengineering, translating lab data to the clinical arena, autoimmune diseases, autism | FAU College of Engineering and Computer Science | Stackman, Jr., Robert W. | Learning and memory | Department of Psychology and Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences, FAU | Stern, Sarah | Neuroscience, Neural Circuits and Behavior, Transcriptomics | Max Planck Florida Institute | Stewart, Kelly | Marine vertebrate ecology and behavior, population dynamics and genetics, biogeography, threatened species biology and conservation and field biology | Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | Toll, Lawrence | Neuropharmacology of opioid and nicotinic receptors with respect to pain and drug abuse | FAU College of Medicine | Van Praag, Henriette | Regulation and function of adult hippocampal neurogenesis | Department of Biomedical Science, FAU | Varela, Carmen | Thalamic circuits and their contribution to the mechanisms of learning. | FAU Psychology | Volin, John | Conservation biology | Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut | Wang, Yingxue | Neuronal mechanisms of episodic memory | Max Planck Florida Institute | West, Lyndon | Discovery of pharmacologically-active metabolites from marine invertebrates, anti-cancer and anti-microbial agents, use of stem cells in developing new drugs for cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases | FAU Chemistry and Biochemistry | Young, Joy | Spawning dynamics | Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation |
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