Pease Lab
integrative genomic evolution
James Pease

James Pease

Associate Professor, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University (2024–)
Assistant and Associate Professor, Wake Forest University (2016–2024)
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan — Ann Arbor
Ph.D. Indiana University — Bloomington
email · @jamesbpease · GScholar · PubMed
James is interested in understanding the processes of molecular genomic and trait diversification, speciation, and hybridization using integrative computational population genomic, phylogenomic, and transcriptomic analyses.

Andria Harkey

Andria Harkey

Postdoctoral Researcher, Wake Forest University
Ph.D. Wake Forest School of Medicine
B.S. University of North Carolina at Greensboro
· @andria_harkey · andriaharkey.com · GScholar · PubMed

Andria is interested in genome-scale responses to environmental signals in plant growth and physiology, as well as developing tools to help biologists make sense of the myriad genomic datasets that have been and are being generated. She is currently working on the Genomics of Thermotolerance in Tomato Reproduction project.


Christina Harvey

Christina Harvey

Ph.D. Student, Department of Biology, Wake Forest University
M.S. University of Louisana at Lafayette
B.S. McNeese State University
Christina is researching the evolution of traits across the tree of life. More specifically, she is interested in how trait evolution results in diverse physiological processes between species. Christina is exploring this topic by investigating muscle-calcium relationships in Aves.
Arjun Potter

Arjun Potter

Postdoctoral Researcher, Wake Forest University
Ph.D. Princeton University
M.A. Princeton University
B.S. Cornell University
arjunpotter.com · GScholar · PubMed

Arjun is a community ecologist with broad interests in species interactions, allometry, plant and animal traits, savanna ecology, animal nutrition, and predation. He is currently working as part of our Acacia Eco-Evo Genomics Project.


Ellen Weinheimer

Ellen Weinheimer

Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Biology, Wake Forest University
B.A. Washington University in St. Louis

Ellen is interested in genomic patterns of adaptation and introgression during speciation, and developing new genomes for understudied tree genera in North American and East Africa. She currently leading the African Acacia Eco-Evo-Genomics Project in our lab.

Jessica Behrendt

Jessica Behrendt

Jessica (WF'26, B.S. Biology) is working as part of our tomato genomics project to expand our genomic sequence database.
Olivia Delgado

Olivia Delgado

Olivia (WF'26, B.S. Biology) is working on our vertebrate muscle molecular evolution to understand the molecular diversity of muscle-related genes.
Past Graduate Researchers
Lizel Mendoza
M.S. Biology 2023 (WFU)
David de la Cerda
M.S. Medical Sciences 2022 (WFU)
Bioinformatics Analyst, Texas Children's Hospital
R. Miller Ligon
M.S. Biology 2021 (WFU)
Medical Student, Tulane University Medical School)
    Past Honors Thesis Students
  • Louis Ballard (WF'23)
  • Chloe Borden (WF'19)
  • Faye Fang (WF'21)
  • Sarah Hoover (WF'22)
  • Murren Kelly (WF'24)
  • Emma Rowley (WF'19)
  • Molly Sohn (WF'20)
  • Makenzie Whitener (WF'18)
  •  
    • Past Undergraduate Researchers
  • Justin Absher (WF'19)
  • Naomi Cammock (WF'21)
  • Daria Cara (WF'24)
  • Brad Davis (WF'18)
  • Deja Dobson (WF'21)
  • Natalie Ellis (WF'23)
  • Rebecca Epling (WF'18)
  • Natoli Farber (WF'21)
  • Nolan Hamilton (WF'20)
  • R.E. Hamrick (WF'21)
  • Morgyn Hill (WF'19)
  • Henry Hollis (WF'21)
  • Roddra Johnson (WF'21)
  • Katherine Juarez (WF'19)
  • Caroline Karlson (WF'20)
  • Nathan Katz (WF'21)
  • Zac Kearns (WF'21)
  • Dylan King (WF'20)
  • Aaron Las Heras (WF'23)
  • Allie Lewis (WF'22)
  • Andrew Murphy (WF'20)
  • Zoë Rogers (WF'20)
  • Ryan Stalder (WF'20)
  • Alexandra Stefanis (WF'23)
  • Sid Subramanian (WF'24)
  • Anesia Taylor (WF'25)
  • Alice Wang (WF'27)
  • Ellie Weber (WF'24)
  • Emmanuel Yamoah (WF'19)
  • Oscar Yu (WF'22)
Past Visiting Scholars
  • Alejandra Montero Sanjuán* (Tecnológico de Costa Rica)
  • Erin Nowak (Salem College)

Collaborators