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LACEY LAB
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Vertebrate Social Behavior
and Population Biology

OUR RESEARCH
OPPORTUNITIES
CONTACT US

WELCOME!

Dr. Eileen Lacey's lab is based in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley. The common theme that unites the lab is an interest in vertebrate social behavior and population biology. Within this general framework, research conducted by lab members covers a wide variety of taxa and topics. Field studies of behavior represent a critical component of all projects. Current research by lab members involves field work in Argentina, the Sierra Nevada of California; past work has taken place in Brazil, Panama, and Australia. We also maintain one of the only captive colonies of Colonial Tuco-tuco's Ctenomys sociabilis. Most lab members also make use of the facilities available in the MVZ's Laboratory for Evolutionary Genetics to conduct molecular analyses of parentage, kinship, or population structure. Additionally, we have partnered with other labs to conduct analyses of stress physiology and gut microbial diversity.

Our lab stands against racism and all practices that reduce equity and inclusion in the biological sciences, in academia, and in society. Our lab stands for diversity in all forms and we are committed to using our voices as scientists, as educators, and as citizens to work to remove barriers to equity. We encourage you to join us in the process of creating a different societal structure that truly includes equality for all. You can find a more in depth statement on our labs anti-racist and diversity initiatives here.

Please use the links above to navigate through the site and find out more about who we are and what we do, or view the adjacent slideshow to find out more about ongoing research in the lab.

Lab News

The Lacey Lab Stands in Solidarity with Black Lives and Against Racism. 
June 11, 2020

This spring has underscored the significant disparities that exist in our society – disparities that reflect the consistent marginalization of people of color. The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black, Native American, and impoverished communities. The epidemic of police violence directed at Black people. These are two particularly salient, painful examples of a much larger, deeper, and difficult to eradicate pattern of systemic racism in the US.
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Our lab stands against racism and all practices that reduce equity and inclusion in the biological sciences, in academia, and in society. Our lab stands for diversity in all forms and we are committed to using our voices as scientists, as educators, and as citizens to work to remove barriers to equity. We encourage you to join us in the process of creating a different societal structure that truly includes equality for all.
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Kwasi Wrensford featured on WHYY's The Pulse discussing the impacts of COVID-19 on ecological field research.
May 15, 2020

Kwasi talks with a producer of the science and health program The Pulse about how COVID-19 shutdowns have impacted field research, particularly for early career scientists.

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Shannon O'Brien, Erin Person, Kwasi Wrensford receive Grants-in-Aid of Research from the American Society of Mammalogists
May 5, 2020

Shannon, Erin, and Kwasi were all awarded an American Society of Mammalogists GIAR to support their dissertation research. 

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Erin Person receives an Honorable Mention for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program​
March 31, 2020

​Erin's proposal for the NSF-GRFP was recognized with an Honorable Mention! 

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Shannon O'Brien receives a Grant-in-Aid of Research from the Animal Behavior Society 
March 25, 2020

Shannon was awarded an Animal Behavior Society Research Grant for her proposal entitled Consequences of Sociality to the Gut Microbiome in a Facultatively Social Subterranean Rodent.

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​Shannon O'Brien and Dr. Lacey Publish new article in The Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society
February 18, 2020

Shannon O'Brien publishes her findings describing for the first time facultatively social behavior in the highland tuco-tuco Ctenomys opimus of Laguna de los Pozuelos, Jujuy Province, Argentina.

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Read about Shannon's research in the Berkeley Science Review
December 4, 2019

​​Shannon wrote and published a popular science article in the Berkeley Science Review describing her research!

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Lacey Lab welcomes new PhD student Daisy Horr
August 21, 2019

The Lacey Lab would like to extend a warm welcome to our newest member, PhD. student Daisy Horr! Originally from Austin, Texas, Daisy did her undergraduate work at Trinity University in San Antonio, where she worked in Dr. Michele Johnson's lab studying dynamic color change in the green anole, Anolis carolinensis.  

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Lacey Lab takes Washington DC for the American Society of Mammalogists Centennial Meeting
​
July 2, 2019

The American Society of Mammalogists just held their 99th annual meeting in Washington DC, marking 100 years since the organization's founding. Eileen, a former president of ASM, gave a talk on the role paleoenvironmental change may have played in the loss of genetic diversity in Colonial Tuco-tucos, in addition to presiding over several events during the meeting. Shannon, Kwasi, and Erin all presented posters on their research as well. 
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 Shannon O'Brien receives a Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship
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March 15, 2019

PhD candidate Shannon O'Brien was just awarded a Ford Foundation PreDoctoral Fellowship in support of her dissertation project on the social behavior, stress physiology, and gut microbial diversity of the highland tuco tuco, ​Ctenomys opimus. The Ford Foundation Fellowship supports researchers at various stages of their career who have demonstrated a clear dedication and passion for education, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Congrats Shannon!

MUSEUM of VERTEBRATE
​Zoology
DEpT' of Integrative
​Biology
University of California
​Berkeley
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