Department of Biology

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Biology is the study of life. Its scope extends from molecules to organisms and ecosystems. It deals with fundamental questions such as the origin and evolution of plants and animals, interactions between living organisms and their environment, mechanisms of embryonic development, the structure and function of the living cell, the molecular basis of inheritance, the biochemical and genetic basis of human diseases, and the operation of the brain and the nervous system. Staff of the Biology Department conduct research and offer teaching programs in all these areas. The Department of Biology's well-equipped teaching and research laboratories are located in the Stewart Biology Building and the Bellini Life Sciences Building.

Areas of Research
Behaviour

Molecular Biology
& Genetics
Cell & Developmental Biology
Neurobiology
Plant Biology

 


Department of Biology In the Media

  • Dr. Thomas Bureau, Genomic Investigator (McGill Headway, April 10, 2013)
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  • McGill at work: What is a researcher's life like? How is research conducted in the field? Follow Dr. Catherine Potvin and her students in Canada and in Panama on a journey to understand climate change and tropical forests.

    Featured articles
  • In a recent article published in PLOS, Dan Schoen presents evidence suggesting that self-incompatibility (SI) was lost and then regained in the lineage leading to the Brassicaceae genus Leavenworthia. The secondary evolution of S-locus seems to be due to neo-functionaliztion of genes that are paralogous to those of the ancestral S-lcous. Most plant evolutionary biologists have argued that the loss of SI is irreversible. >> Read more...
  • Andy Gonzalez and Graham Bell show that populations can adapt fast enough to extreme environmental change to evade extinction, especially if populations are large enough and have experienced relevant historical selection. >> Read More...

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