The Meyer Lab

We study several fundamental issues in evolutionary biology. In particular, the evolution of biodiversity, and specifically the genesis of genomic, developmental and morphological diversity as well as their evolutionary interconnections, are of interest to us. To this end we study: morphological differentiation and its developmental basis within a phylogenetic framework, genetic differentiation among populations and species, and the evolution of genes and genomes, and the evolution of novel gene functions. In an effort to better understand the origin and maintenance of diversity we mostly use molecular and bioinformatic approaches, to ask how many and what kind of genetic changes accompany morphological differentiation among populations and species.

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News

• Cuckoo Catfish of Lake Tanganyika paper gets lots of press!  podcast  New Scientist, Science Daily, Science Newsline, and Phys.org
• Postdoctoral Position in Evolutionary Bioinformatics and Hector Academy PhD position Job opportunities Link PDF
• Scale-eating cichlids from the lab receives coverage in Neue Züricher Zeitung ​More information   

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Our latest publications

• Karagic, N., A. Härer, A. Meyer, and J. Torres-Dowdall. 2018. Heterochronic opsin expression due to early light deprivation results in drastically shifted visual sensitivity in a cichlid fish: Possible role of thyroid hormone signaling. Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution. in press.
• Blazek, R., M. Polacik, C. Smith, M. Honza, A. Meyer, and M. Reichard. 2018. Success of cuckoo catfish brood parasitism reflects co-evolutionary history and individual experience of their cichlid hosts. Science Advances. 4: eaar4380. 
• Woltering, J.M., Holzem, M., Schneider, R.F., Nanos, V., and A. Meyer. 2018. The skeletal ontogeny of Astatotilapia burtoni – a direct-developing model system for the evolution and development of the teleost body plan. BMC Developmental Biology. 18: 8.

​          all Meyer lab publications