John Ferguson's research interests lie in the biochemistry of the Krebs cycle enzymes of the ciliate Tetrahymena, in particular of its NADP+ isocitrate dehydrogenases. Current research has emerged from the observation (while building phylogenetic trees) that the human bacterial pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis has two genes for NADP+ isocitrate dehydrogenase, one of which is very eukaryotic-like. His new interest in Mycobacterium has led to two projects | one on the genes in Mycobacterium marinum encoding isocitrate lyases and their respective protein products and one on another eukaryotic-like mycobacterial gene, this one encoding a sulfotransferase.

Philip Johns studies the evolution and genetics of arthropod social behavior. He is especially interested in the genetic architecture of traits involved in mate competition. He has worked on desert spiders, striped bark scorpions, dampwood termites, Chinese mantids, and stalk-eyed flies. He used genetic markers to determine which termites inherit nests when two colonies fight and the kings and queens are killed, and what those patterns imply about the evolution of sterile castes in termites. He currently studies stalk-eyed flies, whose eyes sit at the ends of extremely long stalks, longer than their bodies in some species. Some male stalk eyed flies have X linked sex ratio genes that cause them to sire all female broods. Even more interesting is that sex ratio is tightly linked to a variety of genes, and Philip mapped the genes for eye stalk and sperm length on the X chromosome and nearly perfectly linked to the sex ratio locus.

Brooke Jude is a microbiologist who studies isolates of microorganisms found in various (local and foreign) aquatic sources. She is currently investigating the mechanisms that aquatic bacteria use to bind to surfaces in the environment. She uses classic microbiological techniques for isolation and culture of the strains, and identifies organisms via modern sequence analysis. Investigations within the lab also include molecular cloning to create deletion strains, biofilm assays, protein expression, tissue culture binding assays and investigation into bacterial behavior within microbial communities.

Felicia Keesing is a community ecologist who studies the consequences of interactions among species. Since 1995, she has studied how African savannas function when the large, charismatic animals -- like elephants, buffaloes, zebras, and giraffes -- disappear. Now, she also studies how interactions among species influence the probability that humans will be exposed to infectious diseases. Keesing and her biology department colleague, Mike Tibbetts, recently received two grants from the National Science Foundation to study emerging tick-borne disease of humans called anaplasmosis and babesiosis. Keesing also studies Lyme disease, another tick-borne disease. She is particularly interested in how species diversity affects disease transmission.

Bill Maple is a field biologist with broad interests in community ecology and with specific affection for herptiles, arthropods, and plants. His current research examines endangered habitats (heathland and sandplain grassland) and endangered species (American burying beetle) on Nantucket Island.

Catherine O'Reilly's research focuses on the biogeochemistry of aquatic ecosystems. She is interested in how environmental changes (such as land use and climate) affect freshwater nutrient cycling, food quantity and quality, and the implications of these changes for community structure and ecosystem productivity. Most of her recent research has been done in tropical systems such as Lake Tanganyika, East Africa.

Mike Tibbetts is interested in the genetics of complex traits. He is using zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a model system to examine the genetic contributions to learning and memory. The centerpiece of his laboratory's focus is the NMDA neurotransmitter receptor protein. Using both genetic manipulation of specific genes and the associations between behavior and genetic markers, he is working to understand how a complex network of genes interact to influence learning and memory in this simple vertebrate.