The Alberts Lab

Department of Biology
Duke University
Box 90338
Durham, NC 27708

Susan Alberts (alberts@duke.edu)

Susan is the head of the lab. Learn more about her research interests and publications, or download her CV.

Patrick Onyango (patrick.onyango@duke.edu)

Patrick is a postdoc in the Alberts lab. His research investigates sources of variability in individual fitness in large mammals. Currently he is focused on non-genetic parental determinants of offspring fitness and the operation of sexual selection in savannah baboons. Patrick is also responsible for the ongoing maintenance of BABASE, the project database.

Mathias Franz (mathias.franz@zentr.uni-goettingen.de)

Mathias is a postdoc in the Alberts lab. He is broadly interested in dynamics and evolution of social behaviors. His current research focuses on temporal dynamics of social networks in female baboons. This includes the development of new statistical methods and analyses of behavioral long-term data from Amboseli.

Courtney Fitzpatrick (clynfitz@duke.edu)

Courtney is a Ph.D. student in the lab. She is primarily interested in sexual selection and plans to pursue her interests in the Amboseli baboons using both molecular techniques and field observations. She has also studied recombination rate heterogeneity in Drosophila pseudoobscura, sex differences in play behavior in Lemur catta, photography from both studio and art historical perspectives and contemporary theories of gender identity.

Mercy Akinyi (mya3@duke.edu)

Mercy is a PhD student in the lab. Her research interests are geared to the understanding of the relationship between the environmental factors and genetic mechanisms that affect animal behavior and welfare (including risk to predisposition to disease), particularly for non-human primates in their natural environment and in captivity.

Amanda Lea (amanda.lea@duke.edu)

Amanda is a Ph.D. student in the University Program in Ecology. She is interested in the impact of early life environment (both social and ecological) on behavior throughout the life course, as well as the molecular processes that mediate such long lasting effects. Amanda is co-advised by Susan Alberts and Jenny Tung.

Jeff Stroud (jeff.stroud@duke.edu)

Jeff is a research associate working on associating gene expression with observed social behavior in baboons. His primary interests include transcription and translation regulation mechanism, damage dealt to DNA by oxidative stress, and DNA repair mechanisms of oxidative damage.

Jacob Gordon (jacob.gordon@duke.edu)

Jake received his bachelor's degree in molecular biology from Brigham Young University. He is in charge of genotyping of the Amboseli baboons. Altogether, his responsibilities include fecal DNA extraction, quantitative PCR, and microsatellite analysis.