T. Ryan Gregory

I am an evolutionary biologist with a research focus on genome evolution and biodiversity. My research focuses primarily on the evolution of genome size (amount of DNA per genome) in different species of animals. I would like to understand why some salamanders have 40x more DNA than humans. I am also passionate about science education and outreach, and have served as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Evolution: Education and Outreach. I have taught more than 10,000 students in my university courses, ranging from first through to fourth year and graduate level. I also maintain a strong interest in the philosophy of biology and have taught the subject at the graduate level and am an adjunct faculty member in the philosophy department. Since 2020, I have been very interested in the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its variants, and have used this as an example in my courses and have sought to relevant explain evolutionary concepts to a broader audience. I have been engaged in efforts to track and communicate about variants.