Shaili Mathur

Biological systems function in complex natural environments under physical constraints, interact with each other, and evolve over time to produce the tremendous natural variation that we now observe. I am interested in building an integrative understanding of cellular, ecological, and evolutionary processes, which occur simultaneously at different levels of organization and temporal scales. Organisms operate in dynamically changing environments, yet much of our understanding of cellular behavior and evolution in the lab has been restricted to simpler constant environments. I use S. cerevisiae (baker’s yeast) as a model system to study the effects of environmental change on cellular physiology and evolution. In addition to lab-strains, I also study the natural variation in behavior in changing environments in wild yeast strains. In my research, I am leveraging techniques such as experimental evolution with DNA-barcoded strains, genetic manipulations, and mathematical modeling tools from cellular biology and population genetics. Understanding these fundamental questions can be useful for a range of pressing questions, from the dynamics in cancer to the impacts of a changing climate.