At the Bergey Lab in the Rutgers University Department of Genetics, our research aims to understand how organisms adapt to their environment with a focus on the evolution of complex, polygenic traits. To do so, we use population, evolutionary, and functional genomic approaches to understand the effects of past selection on modern medically-relevant phenotypes, testing evolutionary hypotheses in humans, non-human primates, and disease vectors. More broadly, we want to understand how ecological, behavioral, cultural, or anthropogenic factors impact adaptive evolution.

Our current major projects include:

investigating human adaptations to life in the rainforests of Africa, including the evolution of small body size (the “pygmy” phenotype) in rainforest hunter-gatherers, understanding the co-evolution of malaria with its human and primate hosts and mosquito vector, and exploring how primates have adapted to their environments with a particular focus on gene flow between species in Africa.



Please see here for information about open and upcoming postdoctoral and student positions.