The Navara Lab
Research Interests
My research is integrative and multidisciplinary in that it combines the fields of endocrinology, immunology, and molecular biology to answer broad evolutionary and ecological questions. My primary interest lies in parental and developmental effects.
Cues and exposures (both physiological and sensory) prior to birth or hatch can have dramatic effects on the developmental physiology and behavior of embryos. We are particularly interested in the role of hormones, food additives, and contaminants in shaping offspring physiological responses.
Birds are not the only ones that have the ability to influence offspring sex ratios according to surrounding conditions. Mammals can also bias sex ratios, and humans are no exception. Sex ratio biases have been documented in humans in response to a plethora of variables. We have found that humans a tropical latitudes produce significantly more girls. In current work, we are focusing on the influences of gestational weight gain on offspring sex..