Welcome!

Research Focus

• Cardio-Respiratory Physiology
• Developmental Physiology of Vertebrates
• Reptilian and Avian Biology

My research focuses on understanding developmental physiology in vertebrates. The specific areas I study are the plasticity of developmental cardiovascular physiology in vertebrates and the differences in cardiovascular maturation between species during embryonic development. These areas are addressed with a variety of approaches and techniques: phylogenetic, pharmacological, environmental, and molecular. I use a comparative approach, investigating several vertebrate groups including amphibians, reptiles, and birds. Utilizing the comparative method, my laboratory seeks to discover the patterns of developmental physiology that unify vertebrates and isolated periods of developmental susceptibility to environmental stress.