Neil H. Shubin
Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy and Committee on Evolutionary Biology
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 60637
USA

The focus of my research is on how new evolutionary structures evolve. By linking expeditionary paleontology and developmental biology, I try to understand the rates, patterns, and mechanisms of the evolution of the vertebrate skeleton. My fieldwork is now primarily in the Devonian and Early Mesozoic. Our field sites in the Devonian of Pennsylvania and the Canadian Arctic are producing early tetrapods and their close relatives. Together with developmental genetic approaches we are looking at the ways that genetic changes have influenced the evolution of the fin and limb skeleton. I did my graduate work at Harvard with Dr. Jenkins as my advisor and Dr. Gatesy as my classmate.