Faculty bio | Cresko Lab | (541) 346-4779 | Twitter

Geneticist Bill Cresko studies the genomic basis of evolutionary change using comparative studies of natural populations in the wild and experimental approaches in the laboratory. He uses the threespine stickleback fish as his primary model to understand how molecular genetic variation can modify networks of genes and proteins to produce variation in evolutionarily important traits. Most recently his lab has developed stickleback as a model for studies of how host genetic variation can influence their associated microbial communities. His lab is also well known for developing genomic tools (e.g. RAD-seq) and super-computing software (e.g. Stacks), both of which are now used by thousands of scientists around the world. Cresko’s group has published nearly 100 papers that have been cited thousands of times. Cresko received several prestigious fellowships throughout his education from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation and was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2016. 

Recent Media:
‘Evolution Gone Crazy’: What Makes Sea Dragons So Strange (The New York Times, July 7, 2022)
Genome Spotlight: Mandarinfish (Synchiropus splendidus) (The Scientist, Oct. 28, 2021)
Research project examines male pregnancy and microbes in fish (Around the O, April 29, 2021)
Data science to debut as the UO’s newest major this fall (Around the O, April 7, 2020)
Evolution can happen quicker than previously thought (Oregon Public Broadcasting, Dec. 21, 2015)
Stickleback fish evolved rapidly to living in freshwater ponds following major earthquake (Nature World News, Dec. 15, 2015)
La rápida adaptación al agua dulce de un pez en Alaska (El Mundo, Dec. 14, 2015)
Genetics journal names paper led by UO's Cresko as among its Top 10 (Around the O, Oct. 22, 2015)