Department of Zoology
University of Florida
223 Bartram Hall
P.O. Box 118525
Gainesville, FL 32611-8525
Email: jhavird@zoology.ufl.edu
Hello and welcome! Although my research interests are wide, I am
generally interested in the biology of marine and fresh water organisms.
My Master's Research at UF focuses on the evolution and
osmoregulatory function of cyclooxygenase (COX) in the chordates.
Briefly, COX is the enzyme that converts arachidonic acid to
prostaglandins, which play roles in inflammation, reproduction, and
osmoregulation. Despite the identification of several COX genes
in multiple fish, little research has been done on non-mammalian COX
form and function. I am interested in investigating the evolution and
function of this gene primarily in the "ancestral" chordates.
I am originally from fabulous
Lake City, Florida and received my B.S.
in Zoology from the University of Florida. My senior thesis is titled
"Neuronal nitric oxide synthase in the gills of the euryhaline killifish
(
Fundulus heteroclitus)". My undergraduate and graduate advisor
is the awe-inspiring
Dr. David H. Evans.
On the right, I am pictured cruising around Salisbury Cove, Maine
near the
Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory.
