The Dunn Lab

My CV can be downloaded here.

My PhD thesis can be downloaded here.

Contact information:

office 401.863.9806
lab 401.863.6275
fax 401.863.2166

80 Waterman Street
Box G-W
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
USA

stefan_siebert@brown.edu

My research interests focus on the developmental biology and diversity of hydrozoans (Cnidaria). Central issues of my work concern pattern formation and differentiation processes within the individual and on the level of colony forming entities. The approaches comprise interspecific comparisons on both the molecular and morphological level and aim at conceptual frameworks on (i) how higher levels of organismal complexity are achieved and (ii) how variations in differentiation gene sets lead to species-level phenotypic differences. Hydrozoans are taken as models for the understanding of key transitions in metazoan evolution.

My interests are very broad... including phylogenetics, invertebrate symbioses, bioluminescence, chaetognath morphology and life history, and intertidal ecology. Much of my current work in the lab focuses on preparing field collected specimens for next-generation sequencing to address a variety of questions, as well as optimizing RNA isolation and cDNA preparation for broadly sampled non-model organisms.

I am fascinated by the evolution of major transitions in the history of life, with a particular focus on the origin and evolution of multicellular animal life, and likewise the evolution of colonial animals. I am specifically interested in the evolution of development in cnidarians, as well as their systematics and natural history.

I am interested in the molecular mechanisms underlying the segregation of germline and somatic stem cells. Furthermore, I seek to better understand the evolutionary history of pluripotency in metazoa. (Rotation student)

I am an undergraduate in Marine Biology, interested in the evolution and development of marine invertebrates. I am currently looking at the role of PAR proteins in early stage development in the Starlet Sea Anemone, Nematostella.

I am interested in the evolution of developmental mechanisms. In the Dunn lab I have been studying oocyte maturation in Nematostella as well as zooid formation in siphonophores

I am interested in marine systems and the invertebrates that inhabit them. In the lab, I have worked with mollusk and cnidarian specimens from the field, and used them to create cDNA libraries that are then sequenced using various next-generation sequencing technologies. These EST data sets are then used to answer various questions about their relationships. I am also interested in using these sequencing technologies in quantitative gene expression profiles in order to answer developmental questions.