The MacManes lab tl;dr. We use physiology and genomics to study the coolest mammal on the planet! Who so cool? It lives it's entire life without ever needing to drink water, and may never urinate!
We are interested in understanding how adaptive evolution has shaped animal (mostly in mammals) diversity. We are particularly interested in physiology and genomics, and use real-time metabolic phenotyping and high-throughput sequencing technologies to better understand this. We have several ongoing projects all related to how animals survive in exceptionally harsh environments, like deserts. Our experimental setup allows us to house animals in the lab in desert conditions (hot and dry), but to manipulate everything else (for instance diet, water availability) and measure things like blood electrolytes, metabolic rate, and rate of water loss. We can link those measurements to gene expression and other genomic processes! Sound cool? You should join us!!
