Biology Faculty Research

Biology faculty members at WCU carry out research ranging from regenerative medicine, genomics, enzyme regulation, and protein dynamics to ecology, conservation, and animal behavior. See faculty members below for details.

Faculty Research in Cellular and Molecular Biology

• Use of genomics to clarify gene structure and regulation (Dr. Indi Bose)
• Regenerative medicine and genetics related to diseases of bones and joints (Dr. Heather Coan)
• Regulation of enzymes (Dr. Amanda Storm)
• Drosophila biologist, Genetics, Molecular Biology, Nutritional control of stem cells in fly ovaries (Dr. Subhshri Sahu)
• Plant–microbe interactions (Dr. André C. Velásquez Landmann)
• Protein dynamics associated with Cystic Fibrosis (Dr. Bob Youker)

Faculty Research in Ecology and Evolution

• Phenotypic variation and population divergence in animals, primarily birds (Dr. Barbara Ballentine)
• Insect behavior and ecology; Conservation; History of evolutionary biology (Dr. James Costa)
• Floral trait evolution (Dr. Jacob Heiling)
• Communication and social interactions in territorial animals (Dr. Jeremy Hyman)
• Evolutioary morphology and ecology of fishes (Dr. Olivier Larouche)
• Diversity, ecology, and evolution of insects (Dr. Luiz Lima Da Silveira)
• Plant systematics (Dr. Kathy Mathews)
• Diversity of bacteria and archaea in nature (Dr. Sean O'Connell)
• Conservation ecology of amphibians (Dr. Joseph Pechmann)