Rebecca Varney, M.S.
PhD Candidate
rvarney@crimson.ua.edu
@RebeccaMVarney
I am motivated by questions posed by organisms with unusual traits, especially traits that evolve in the context of functional constraint and/or stress. I am intrigued by organisms that appear to transit 'negative trait space' to get to new evolutionary optima. By uniting physiology with the latest 'omics, I seek to understand both how these abilities develop and function and how they may have evolved. 

I am currently a PhD candidate in the Kocot Lab at the University of Alabama. The Kocot lab specializes in marine invertebrates as models for biological processes (like biomineralization) and as fascinating animals in their own right.

When not in the lab, I am an avid SCUBA diver and enjoy photography and ballroom dancing.
If you're at UA, come visit my office!
You can pet a chiton!

Mary Harmon Bryant Hall
(the collections building)
Room 308
500 Hackberry Lane
Tuscaloosa, AL 35401