We are interested in diverse aspects of evolution in protists.  We focus most of our research on amoeboid protists of the large Amoebozoa clade. Our tools are molecular, morphological and ecological. This group of organisms is incredibly diverse and inhabits all types of environments around and inside us. We know very little about them.

Deep Phylogeny of Amoebozoa

We are currently developing protocols to obtain trasncriptomic data from multiple Amoebozoa lineages. As always, we are trying to focus on lesser-known taxa, and developing tools to obtain genetic information from the unculturable organisms.

Morphology and Morphometrics

One of the main research lines of the lab is describing and understanding the morphological variation of diverse amoebozoans.  We use a number of microscopical tools (SEM, TEM, fluorescence, histology) to unravel intriguing characteristics of the morphology and cell structure of these microbial eukaryotes. We are starting an effort to combine the morphological data with the emerging molecular data for a few "model" amoebae.

Novel Taxa

We are exploring diverse tropical localities in search of novel amoebozoans!

Ecology and Biogeography

Because we are located in an undersampled and rich region of the world, we are in a unique position to catalog and describe patterns of habitat and geographical occupation, mainly using testate amoebae as model systems.

Micropaleontology

Amazingly, amoebae are among the few eukaryotic microorganisms that are capable of leaving a fossil record. And what a record that is!  Some of the oldest testate amoebae may be around 750 million years old, which is about 200 million years before the first animals (that fossilized) showed up.  We are working on the ancient paleontological record of testate amoebae from locations around the world.