Kathy Darragh: I’m an Assistant Professor (2024) in the Department of Biology at Indiana University Bloomington. I was born in Northern Ireland and did both my undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Cambridge (UK), where I worked on the chemical ecology of Heliconius butterflies. I then moved to the US to do a postdoc at UC Davis working with orchid bees, and more recently the spiral gingers (Costus), again focusing chemical evolution in these groups.

Zarley Rebholz: I am a post-doctoral researcher in the Darragh Lab at Indiana University Bloomington. I am originally from Reading, Pennsylvania. I have a B.S. in Biology from West Chester University and a Ph.D. in Biology from Virginia Tech. During my Ph.D., I researched enzymes involved in terpene pheromone biosynthesis and their evolution in a variety of insect lineages, including lady beetles, stink bugs, and the American cockroach. I am continuing research in the emerging field of terpene specialized metabolite biosynthesis in insects in the Darragh lab with a focus on convergent/parallel enzyme evolution.

Rowan French: I am a post-doctoral researcher working jointly with Kathy Darragh at Indiana University, Bruno de Medeiros at the Field Museum in Chicago, and Paulo Milet-Pinheiro at the University of Pernambuco in Brazil. Broadly, I am interested in the diversity, systematics, and chemical ecology of plant-feeding beetles. My postdoctoral work examines the roles of chemical signals (host volatiles and pheromones) in olfactory system evolution and speciation in Brazilian palm weevils. Before coming to IU, I completed an undergraduate degree at the University of Alberta (nearer to my hometown of Tofield, Alberta, Canada) and a PhD at the University of Toronto.

Kim Reish: I am a research associate in the Darragh Lab. I have a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biology. I previously worked as an undergraduate research assistant here at IU.

Interested in joining?

If you are interested in joining the lab as a postdoc/PhD student/undergraduate, please contact me by email (kdarrag @ iu.edu) with a CV and short summary of your research interests.
Follow the link for more information on applying to the EEB graduate program at IU. I am currently recruiting graduate students!