Jesse Weber

Jesse Weber

Associate Professor

he/him/his

jnweber2@wisc.edu

608-262-6391

Birge Hall

Lab Page

Jesse Weber

Research

Animal Behavior, Aquatic Biology, Bioinformatics, Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, Genetics/Genomics, Microbiology/Immunology, Molecular Biology, Physiology

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My team uses an integrative approach, drawing from practically every biological discipline, to describe the process of adaptation via natural selection. Most of our current research focuses on coevolution between threespine stickleback fish and tapeworm parasites, but we are becoming increasingly interested in the evolution of life history patterns (e.g., growth and longevity) and mito-nuclear interactions. In addition to adding to the foundation of basic evolutionary science, by studying adaptations that have survived the gauntlet of natural selection we are poised to mine an enormous and largely untapped reservoir of solutions to pressing medical and conservation challenges.

A photo of a person standing near a stream holding a metal trap dripping with water.
Collecting wild threespine stickleback fish on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.
A photo of a small fish surrounded by white globs as large as and larger than the small fish.
Schistocephalus solidus tapeworms infect stickleback by entering the host’s body cavity and growing to enormous size (relative to the fish).

Education

PhD, Biology, Harvard University, 2012

BA, Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology and Biochemistry, Univ Colorado-Boulder, 2004