Welcome to the Cronk laboratory
at the Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia
Research on the evolution and development of plants
Adaptation genomics, evolutionary developmental biology, floral biology
Our lab integrates comparative genomics, molecular developmental biology and evolutionary biology to study plant form. We are interested in the how different morphologies evolve in plants, as well as the functional significance of morphological differences between species.
Our main model organisms for this include the Leguminosae (floral morphology) and black cottonwood, Populus trichocarpa (adaptive evolution of trees). Next generation sequencing of whole genomes and transcriptomes is an important part of our work.
Research in the lab is funded by the Discovery Grants programme of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Genome Canada.