The Solution to Pollution is "Evolution" The Genomic Basis of Rapid Adaptation in Killifish

Activities in the Whitehead lab revolve around Environmental, Ecological, and Evolutionary Genomics research. These lines of research seek to understand how genomes integrate cues from, respond to, and are shaped by the external environment. Lab members examine genomic responses to stress that occur over physiological timescales (acclimation responses) and over evolutionary timescales (adaptive responses). Many complementary approaches are integrated into the program, including genome expression profiling, population genetics/genomics and phylogenetics, and physiology, to study how individuals and species respond to and adapt to environmental stress. Stressors of interest include those that are natural (temperature, salinity) or of human origin (pollutants, climate change). The lab has both a basic science angle to their research program, and also an applied angle that leverages genomic information to diagnose and solve environmental problems.