Dr. Dakota McCoy, who will be joining the Department of Ecology & Evolution and the Marine Biological Lab (MBL) as an Assistant Professor in September 2024, is now recruiting members to join her lab.
Currently a Stanford Science Fellow and NSF PRFB Fellow, Dr. McCoy takes an interdisciplinary approach to science. She brings together methods from physics, biology, and computational science to tackle interesting questions in the natural world. Currently, she researches coral reefs with a focus on the symbiotic partnerships between animals and photosynthetic algae. How do animals like corals, bivalves, acoels, and sponges use photonic adaptations to channel sunlight toward their symbionts? To what degree are these relationships truly symbiotic and mutualistic, rather than parasitic? What drives coral bleaching? Beyond coral reefs, she is also interested in biophotonics and evolutionary conflict in other domains, including mammalian pregnancy and colorful birds. She sums up her seemingly broad research interests by quoting her PhD supervisor David Haig: it is worth our while to focus on the fundamental interconnectedness of all things.
The McCoy Lab will open at both the University of Chicago and the MBL next Fall. Dr. McCoy welcomes applications from students and postdocs who wish to study photosymbiosis in reef-dwelling animals (corals, bivalves, acoels, and more). She is also happy to support students who wish to work on the biology of pregnancy, as well as students and postdocs who wish to chart the course of their own research. Open positions include lab manager, postdoctoral scholar, PhD student, MD / PhD student, and undergraduate research assistant. Lab members may live in Chicago or in Woods Hole, MA at MBL. Interested candidates are invited to visit Dr. McCoy’s website or email their resume to mccoy6@stanford.edu.
We look forward to welcoming Dr. McCoy and the new lab team in 2024!