Julia Bowsher

Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology
jhb4@email.arizona.edu
Lab: 520-626-3166
Office: 520-626-3955
Fax: 520-621-2590
Mailing address: 1007 E. Lowell Street, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721
Lab: Life Sciences South, Rm. 209
Office: Life Sciences South, Rm. 244

• Home
• Curriculum Vitae (pdf)
• Research Interests
• Publications

RESEARCH INTERESTS

I am interested in both conceptual and experimental issues in evolutionary and developmental biology. Primarily, I have been researching the evolution of novelty, or how an organism is able to produce a new structure from existing genetic and developmental machinery. Currently, I am investigating the evolvability of gene networks by examining the role of gene co-option in the evolution of novel traits.

My research on novelty has focused on the development of abdominal appendages in black scavenger flies (Sepsidae). The males of some species of sepsid flies have abdominal appendage-like structures, which are complex, jointed and used by males during mating. These abdominal appendages have evolved over a relatively short amount of time and exhibit great diversity of size and shape between species. There is even evidence that these appendages have evolved multiple times within the Sepsidae family.

I am investigating the developmental origin of these abdominal appendages in an effort to compare their development to that of other insect appendages. The goal is to determine whether these novel abdominal appendages have co-opted the pre-existing developmental machinery used to pattern the other appendages. I am looking at all aspects of development from basic morphology (using histological techniques and cauterization) to gene expression (using immunohistochemisty, in situ hybridization, and proteomic techniques).