Our research is focused on the systematic and comparative use of genomic and high-throughput experimental data to extract genomic signals of diversity that correlate molecular changes with their evolutionary impacts in animals. Our primary area of interest is the evolution of mammals and other vertebrates, but model organisms of additional taxonomic groups, including Caenorhabditis, Amphimedon, and Giardia, are also featured in my group’s work on comparisons of metazoan diversity. Moreover, as an offshoot of the use of retrotransposons as phylogenetic markers, we are keenly interested in demonstrating to the molecular evolution community that computational tools alone are not necessarily sufficient for resolving controversial evolutionary questions. Successful, unambiguous resolutions are often possible only when the results of computational searches are extensively verified with experimental work.