NSF Awards $860K to IU Biologist

Photo of Armin Moczek courtesy of Indiana University

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The National Science Foundation has given a more than $860,000 grant to support Indiana University biologist Armin Moczek’s evolutionary development research. The grant will also fund the work of six junior scientists at the undergraduate, Ph.D. and postdoctoral levels, as well as the recruitment of two high school students per year.

Under the grant, Moczek’s lab will compare and examine two types of horns in beetles. The two horn types are useful for this work since evidence suggests each represents one of the two evolutionary pathways.

"The big picture is that how novel complex traits originate is still poorly understood, but two routes have been proposed," said Moczek in a news release. "A new trait may evolve by repurposing an already existing part of the body — drawing upon existing gene networks and tissues like combining Legos to build something new — or by building it ‘piecemeal,’ one gene and pathway and cell at a time."

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