Ian Hughes

My name is Ian and I’m a PhD student in the Girguis Lab. My dissertation research is primarily focused on how chemosynthetic symbioses evolve and the greater ecological impacts of these associations. To address the former, my work leverages comparative phylogenomic tools with experimental physiological data using a group of (adorable) deep-sea hydrothermal vent gastropods called Neomphaliones as a model clade.

To study ecological and biogeochemical impacts of chemosymbiosis, I’m utilizing classic physiology methods like respirometry and bulk isotope tracing alongside modern molecular techniques, such as metatranscriptomics and phylogenomics to study the flow of key nutrients like carbon and nitrogen through seagrass meadows luinid clam chemosymbioses. With these projects, I hope to demonstrate that chemosymbiosis is of much broader interest to our understanding of animal evolution and ocean biogeochemistry than previously considered. 

Prior to coming to Harvard, I graduated with a BS in Marine Biology from UCSD/SIO, where I researched marine invertebrate phylogenetics and the microbial ecology of marine molluscs. In addition to my dissertation in the Girguis Lab, I’m also working on fossils from the Ediacara Biota of South Australia which preserve evidence of the earliest complex animals on earth. Outside of research, I’m a keen fly fisher, thru hiker, climber, and lobster diver.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me about anything research related or otherwise!