Ben R. Hopkins
Any organ, be it something simple like an insect sensory bristle or complex like a human brain, appears as a pinnacle of evolutionary achievement. And yet, organs have evolved repeatedly and independently across the animal tree of life, suggesting that natural selection can, perhaps with surprising ease, bring cell types together to form new cooperative units.
My research uses developmental genetics, single cell genomics, and behavioural/fitness assays to understand how evolutionary change across levels of organization—from individual proteins, to gene regulatory networks, to cell types—drives the evolution of organ function and physiology. My particular focus is on the organs and cell types of the reproductive system, but I also maintain an interest in sensory organs.
I am currently a Human Frontier Science Program Long-Term Fellow in Artyom Kopp’s group at the University of California – Davis. Previously, I was an undergraduate and later a DPhil student at the University of Oxford.
A full list of my publications is available on my Google Scholar page and on this site.
You can email me at brhopkins[at]ucdavis[dot]edu or follow me on:
Ben R. Hopkins 