Mammalian Evolutionary Developmental Biology
From the bat wing to the whale flipper to the human arm, the form of the limb governs a mammal's range of locomotor, social and feeding behaviors. As such, the evolution of the mammalian limb has played an integral role in mammalian diversification.
The Sears Lab seeks to understand how genetic and developmental mechanisms have influenced the morphological diversification of the mammalian limb, and thereby the evolution of mammals. Specifically, we seek to understand how development and genetics have been modified to generate new limb morphologies, and the role that development and genetics play in influencing why certain morphologies evolve (sometimes repeatedly) instead of others. 
To pursue this goal, we combine traditional embryological and paleontological approaches with modern developmental and genetic techniques to gather data from fossil and living mammals. Using these techniques we expand upon what is known in model organisms (e.g., mouse) into a comparative approach incorporating non-model organisms (e.g., opossums, bats, horses, pigs). With this integrative approach, we are advancing understanding of the role of development in morphologic evolution.
Sears Lab
465 Morrill Hall
505 South Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
Ph: 217-244-7855
Email: ksears "at" life.illinois.edu
The Sears Lab is recruiting undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral research fellows with interests in evolutionary developmental biology. For more information about positions in the lab, please click on the link on the left of the page.
The Sears Lab welcomes new graduate students Katie Hughes and Daniel Sorensen, who will be starting in the lab in Fall 2013.
The Sears Lab congratulates lab member Daniel Urban, who received an NSF GRF.
February 2013 - The Sears Lab welcomes Karl-Stephan Baczkowski, a graduate student from France, to the lab for the Spring 2013 semester.
Dr. Sears has been invited to present in a symposium on "Bat Evolution and Development" to be held at ICBR in August 2013 in Costa Rica.
Dr. Sears is co-organizing a symposium on Vertebrate Limb Development, and is speaking in that and in a second symposium on "Quantifying evolutionary development using non-model organisms: Integrating metrical frameworks, gene expression, and morphology" that will be held at ICVM in Barcelona in July 2013.
January 2013 - Dr. Sears is again named to the "List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students."
November 2012 - Sears Lab receives a major NSF grant entitled "Genetic determinants of mammalian limb diversity."
August 2012 - Sears Lab research will be featured in an upcoming HHMI/PBS documentary based on Neil Shubin's book "Your Inner Fish."
Sears Lab research is featured in the "Extreme Mammals" museum exhibit that is touring the country. The exhibit has been at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, is currently at the Field Museum in Chicago, and will also visit many other museums.