Nancy A. Moran

Dr. Nancy A. Moran is the Leslie Surginer Professor of Biology at the University of Texas at Austin. She is internationally recognized for her work to demonstrate that intimate symbiotic associations between insects and bacteria date to the origins of major groups of insects, millions of years ago. She has used genomic and experimental work to show that these associations provide hosts with essential molecules and defenses. Moran has also contributed to our understanding of general principles of bacterial genomics and evolution, specifically showing that strictly clonal replication of symbionts leads to loss of genes and genome reduction. The Moran lab’s current research investigates heritable bacterial symbionts in sap-feeding insects and the bacterial gut symbionts living in honeybees and bumblebees. Moran has mentored more than 30 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, almost all of whom are established independent researchers, mostly focusing on insect symbioses and insect evolution.She has also sponsored more than 100 undergraduate researchers and taught evolutionary biology to hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students.

 Moran is the recipient of numerous awards, including the University of Arizona Alumni Association Extraordinary Faculty Award, the International Prize for Biology, the James Tiedje Award for Lifetime Contribution in Microbial Ecology, the University of Arizona Galileo Circle Faculty Fellowship, a MacArthur Fellowship, and the American Society of Naturalists President’s Award. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Microbiology, and the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, in addition to her American Academy of Arts and Sciences membership. She has published more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers in journals such as Annual Review of Genetics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, and Science.