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.