Testate Amoebae

Dan Lahr studies population genetics, genome evolution, morphology and taxonomy in the lobose testate amoebae Arcellinida. These are amoebae that are enclosed in a shell (or test), they use pseudopods (fake feet) to move around and eat fungi, algae and bacteria. They live in a wide variety of habitats, like ponds, rivers and wet soil, and are very abundant corresponding to an important part of consumers, along with other protists. Dan's work focuses on understanding the inheritance of protein coding genes and relating this to how the genome has evolved in this group of amoebae. He has also done educational movies about protists in his home country (Brazil) as a means of raising awareness and public knowledge about free-living and non-disease causing microbes, which are a very important foundation for world-wide ecosystems.