Our lab group, based in the Biology Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a cross-disciplinary research team that combines approaches from biology, physics, and engineering to investigate marine animals, with a particular focus on behavior, sensory biology, and neuroscience. Topics of current interest include:

• how animals such as sea turtles, salmon, and lobsters use Earth’s magnetic field as a map for long-distance navigation
• the neurobiological mechanisms underlying magnetic field detection
• geomagnetic imprinting and natal homing in sea turtles and salmon
• neuroethology and sensory ecology of marine invertebrates and fishes
• bioengineering, machine learning, and computational approaches

Techniques used range from electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry, electrophysiology, and transcriptomics to behavioral studies in the ocean, simulations and modeling, and remote sensing. Whenever possible, we favor innovative approaches that cut across traditional academic boundaries and combine elements from disparate fields.

Last edited 08.28.2021