Welcome to our Research Pages

The Biology Department was founded in 1965 as an integrated, and multidisciplinary, unit. Traditional boundaries which fragment the subject of biology are absent, and as a result a number of highly productive interdisciplinary collaborations have emerged. In 2002 we moved into our new labs, which were funded through a £23M JIF award from BBSRC, with additional funds from Yorkshire Cancer Research, HEFCE and the University of York. The labs provide 10,000m2 of research space, as well as the Structural Biology Laboratory of the Department of Chemistry. Part of the new Development is the Technology Facili

Overview of Research

Recent dramatic progress in our understanding of the nature of life has revolutionized the science of biology. Applications of the methods, concepts, and approaches of modern mathematics, physics, chemistry, and information science are providing deep insight into basic biological problems such as the manner in which genes and viruses replicate themselves; the control of gene expression in cells; the regulation of cellular activity; the mechanisms of growth and development; and the nature and interactions of nerve activity, brain function, and behavior. Qualified experimental and computational biologists will find opportunities for challenging work in basic research as well as in medicine and in biotechnology.
Because of the eminent position of the California Institute of Technology in both the physical and biological sciences, students at the Institute have an unusual opportunity to be introduced to modern biology.

Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior

Ecological interests include aquatic chemical ecology, evolutionary ecology, aquatic toxicology, population, community, and ecosystem ecology, biological oceanography, theoretical ecology, and sensory ecology. Molecular evolution and the evolution of development are two areas of research focus in the School that serve to integrate molecular and evolutionary biology

Research

Research in the Biology Department is diverse and includes all aspects of the contemporary life sciences. Indeed, this diversity is one of the major strengths of the department, facilitating integrative research based on interactions and collaborations between investigators in different disciplines.

The department has recently undergone a major expansion, with the recruitment of new faculty members in several areas, including the molecular biology of development, neurobiology, and ecology and evolution. Laboratories of many of our faculty members are housed in the new interdisciplinary Life Science & Engineering Building, completed in 2005, which also houses faculty from the departments of Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, and the Program in Bioinformatics. Our research laboratories are supported by a variety of shared research facilities, including core laboratories for microarray analysis, proteomics, automated DNA sequencing, electron and confocal microscopy, and analysis of stable isotopes.

Faculty research in the department represents four major areas

Research result

The Department of Aquatic Biology has no collections of preserved specimens but rather coordinates with other Academy Research Departments (particularly Ichthyology and Invertebrate Zoology) and the Steinhart Aquarium in its investigations of the biology of aquatic organisms. The library of genetic material that exists in those departments, be it a fish scale or a tissue sample, can provide evidence for studies of the biology and conservation of aquatic species, populations, and ecosystems.

Department research has combined field and laboratory studies of aquatic animal evolution and behavior, ranging from microscopic bioluminescent bacteria to macroscopic man-eating sharks. Using the facilities and skills of the Steinhart Aquarium and its staff, Department staff and colleagues have maintained populations of endangered Winter-run Sacramento River Chinook salmon and Tidewater gobies, increasing their number and probability for

System biology

is a relatively new biological study field that focuses on the systematic study of complex interactions in biological systems, thus using a new perspective (integration instead of reduction) to study them. Particularly from year 2000 onwards, the term is used widely in the biosciences, and in a variety of contexts.

Because the scientific method has been used primarily toward reductionism, one of the goals of systems biology is to discover new emergent properties that may arise from the systemic view used by this discipline in order to understand better the entirety of processes that happen in a biologi

PROGRAM Eligibility

Applicants must:

be full-time undergraduate students at an institution in the U.S.
be sophomores or juniors who have succesfully completed introductory courses in the biological sciences
maintain a minimum 3.5 GPA in the science courses.
have demonstrated an interest in basic research and in a career in the sciences.