Bio

The Zakas lab researches evolutionary and developmental genetics. We use marine invertebrates as models to understand the genetic basis of life-history evolution.

 

Awards

2025, NSF Early Career Award

Posts

Loyal Like Lloyd

Rooted in Leadership: Mesha Strickland

Nanotyrannus Confirmed: Dueling Dinosaurs Fossil Rewrites the Story of T. rex

High Levels of Short-Chain PFAS Found in Wilmington Residents’ Blood

Chalk it Up to Undergraduate Research

Publications

• Evolutionary landscapes of zygotic genome activation across animals , bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (2026)
• The Relevance and Resilience of Evo‐Devo in 2025: The Biennial Meeting of the Pan American Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology , Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B Molecular and Developmental Evolution (2026)
• RNAi Gene knockdown of R-opsin and F-actin in the marine annelid Streblospio benedicti by delivering dsRNA , bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (2025)
• Comparative Hox genes expression within the dimorphic annelid Streblospio benedicti reveals patterning variation during development , EvoDevo (2024)
• The role of heterochronic gene expression and regulatory architecture in early developmental divergence , eLife (2024)
• The role of heterochronic gene expression and regulatory architecture in early developmental divergence , (2024)
• The role of heterochronic gene expression and regulatory architecture in early developmental divergence , eLife (2024)
• The role of heterochronic gene expression and regulatory architecture in early developmental divergence , eLife (2024)
• Assortative mating and mate‐choice contributes to the maintenance of a developmental dimorphism in Streblospio benedicti , Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B Molecular and Developmental Evolution (2023)
• Comparative Hox genes expression within the dimorphic annelid Streblospio benedicti reveals patterning variation during development , bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (2023)

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