Events

Special Seminar - Scott Nichols, Ph.D.

"Sponges, Choanoflagellates, and the Foundations of Animal Origins"

Overview

Scott Nichols earned his B.S. at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley.  He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Nicole King, Ph.D., at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has established an interdisciplinary research program that addresses the genetic and developmental underpinnings of animal origins.

Nichol’s research brings advanced techniques in comparative genomics, molecular biology, and microscopy to bear on fundamental questions about sponge biology to address the mechanistic underpinnings of early animal evolution. Sponges have particular relevance for understanding animal origins because they are the earliest branching animal phylum, their feeding cells/strategy are homologous with choanoflagellates (the closest animal outgroup), and they have an ancient fossil record. Hence, their body plan is thought to have persisted since before the Cambrian and offers an unparalleled window into the biology of the first animals. By examining the expressed genes of the sponge Oscarella carmela, he has shown that the cell signaling and adhesion gene families required for bilaterian development predate the Cambrian radiation of animal body plans.