Welcome to the Mika Lab!

The oceans have been a hotbed of biological novelty and innovation since multicellular life originated. Some traits, such as adaptation to depth, are unique among marine organisms. Others, such as appendages, have terrestrial analogs, yet we still find unique and spectacular marine forms. The evolution and development of these traits likely relies on variations within conserved molecular pathways, many of which have yet to be fully defined.

Our work utilizes cutting edge molecular techniques on non-model and model marine organisms to elucidate the molecular underpinnings– both conserved and novel–underlying phenotypic evolution in the oceans. This includes surveying the breadth of marine appendages–from cephalopod tentacles to frogfish ‘walking’ fins, comparing adaptation to depth in saltwater and freshwater ecosystems, and exploring the influence of host gene expression on microbiome community composition in marine vertebrates.