Gracey Lab
Our lab’s research is focused on understanding the effect of environmental factors such as temperature, oxygen concentration, pH, and salinity on the molecular and physiological processes of animals, and how these organism-environment interactions affect performance, survival and distribution. We are exploring the evolution of environmental adaptation responses in a range of species spanning multiple phyla, including freshwater and marine fish, nematode worms, bivalve molluscs and macro algae.
Phenotypes result from the combined expression of genes and gene complexes. Understanding patterns of gene expression evoked during environmental change and stress yields insights regarding the mechanisms underlying adaptation from the cellular to the whole-organism level. Our lab utilizes next-generation sequencing methods to monitor gene expression, providing a broad view of the transcriptional changes that accompany alterations in physiological state. The identification of differentially expressed genes in response to environmental change is thus an important first step in understanding the role of the genome within the complex natural history of an organism.