Moran Lab Research
My long-term interests are in the biology of symbiosis, particularly that between multicellular hosts and microbes. Symbioses are central in the evolution of complexity, have evolved many times and are critical to the lifestyles of many animals and plants and also to whole ecosystems, in which symbiotic organisms are key players. The primary reason that symbiosis research is suddenly active, after decades at the margins of mainstream biology, is that DNA technology and genomics give us enormous new ability to discover symbiont diversity, and more significantly, to reveal how microbial metabolic capabilities contribute to the functioning of hosts and biological communities.
> Read MoreLAB NEWS
- Xinyue Gu joins the lab as a Visting Researcher from the University of Melbourne. (October 2026)
- Brian Tran and Florances Qiu join the lab as Undergraduate Research Assistants. (September 2026)
- Congratulations to Aadhunik Sundar on being named a 2026 Dean’s Distinguished Graduate in the College of Liberal Arts. CoLA has ~2500 graduating seniors annually, and only about a dozen receive this recognition! (April 2026)
MEDIA COVERAGE
- DNA Damage as Defense Against Bee Pathogen covered in podcast, This Week in Microbiology (TWiM) [audio]. (September 26, 2026)
- [Biology of Romance] Why a Colon Cancer Toxin Was Found in the Gut of Honeybees in DongA Science. (September 17, 2026)
- Publishing in a Leading Journal as Undergraduates in UT News. (July 17, 2026)
