Hines Lab Group – Spring 2024. Front Row, L-R: Cody Feuerborn, Ethan Dean, Lauren Hinks, Sarah Frantz, Rachael Shippee, Claire Travis. Back Row: Tunc Dabak, Heather Hines, Aden Goldberg, Jonas Bush
Dr. Heather Hines, Associate Professor
Biology, Entomology & Huck Institute Programs in Ecology, Bioinformatics and Genomics, and MCIBS; Center for Pollinator Research
208 Mueller Lab
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802, USA
Office: 517 Mueller Lab
Lab: 513, 518 Mueller Lab
Office Phone: 814-863-8830
hmh19@psu.edu
I am interested in understanding biodiversity, from the genes that drive phenotypes (evolutionary genetics) to understanding adaptation and conservation in communities (evolutionary ecology) to deciphering the evolutionary history of these lineages and traits (systematics). I have an appreciation for and have studied aspects of many insect lineages, however my work has largely focused on applying myriad techniques towards understanding the diversity of Hymenoptera (the bees and wasps) and some of their amazing evolutionary innovations. I have mostly focused on the ~270 species of global bumble bees, a keystone pollinator lineage with impressive learning behaviors, efficient foraging strategies, and a primitive level of sociality and recently on phylogenomics and evolutionary genetics of gall induction in gall wasps.
Graduate Students
Jonas Bush, PhD Student
Bumble bee ecological genomics and phylogenomics; Bumble bee color evolution
rjb6794@psu.edu
518 Mueller Lab
Tunç Dabak, Ph.D. student
Evolutionary genetics of mimetic color diversity in bumble bees; genomics & transcriptomics
tpd5366@psu.edu
518 Mueller Lab
Ethan Dean, Ph.D. student
Impact of nutrition, pesticides, and climate on bumble bee colony health
emd6071@psu.edu
518 Mueller Lab
Cody Feuerborn, MS student
Factors influencing distribution and resilience in bumble bees; thermal and nutritional biology
jcf5632@psu.edu
518 Mueller Lab
PSU Gall Team
Project PIs: Dr. Heather Hines, Dr. John Tooker (back), Dr. Andrew Deans (front right); PhD Students: Charles Davis, Louis Nastasi (front middle); Postbac Research Fellow Antonio Casadei (front left)
Undergraduates
Rachael Shippee
Factors that contribute to thermal tolerance in bumble bees.
Aden Goldberg
Heat shock protein response and its interaction with stressors in bumble bees
Lauren Hinks
Effects of climate events on bumble bees and impacts of body size.
Claire Travis
RNAi knockdown in bumble bees
Sarah Frantz
Tongue length evolution and allometry in bumble bees.
Lab Alumni
Antoine Guiguet (Postdoc)
Elena Gratton (grad student)
Shelby Kilpatrick (grad student)
Sarthok Rahman (grad student)
Briana Ezray (grad student)
Colin Wright (postdoc)
Li Tian (postdoc)
Patrick Lhomme (postdoc)
Guillaume Ghisbain (Visiting Scholar/Masters Intern, U. Mons, Belgium)
Luca Franzini (grad student)
Elyse McCormick (Technician)
Tracey Baumgarten (Technician)
Claudia Rosales (Technician)
Undergraduates
Allie Bradley
Ren Sawyer
Anna Martinello
Andy Hess
Tatiana Terranova
John Marchiafava
Hannah Jahnke
Tori Strausser
Owen Donovan
Marena Martinez
Luke Gasper-Markel
Margaret Weber
Kylie Warwick
Ashley Heimann
Eris Villalona
Erica Laveaga
Timothy Egner
Sophie Tessier
Casey Carr
Sarah Williams
Carrie Hill
Anna Nixon
Daniel Snellings
Paige Witkowski
Jesse Schneider
Nicole Bracci
Tristan Medina
Daniel Spivack
Rebecca Sommer
Nick MacKnight
Matthew Dowhower
Dianne Lee
Katie Del Guercio
Andrew Walrond
Angela Hoover
Hines Lab 