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Nancy A. Moran is an American evolutionary biologist, Yale professor, and co-founder of the The Yale Microbial Diversity Institute.
Nancy began her undergraduate studies at the University of Texas in 1972. She started out as an art major, and later switched to philosophy. For an elective requirement she took an introduction to biology course. From this, she became interested in biology. During her senior year at college, she undertook an honours project, and tried something in biology. The class was on animal behaviour, and provided her with an opportunity to experience independent research, and solidified her interest in evolution and behaviour. She applied to graduate school, and eventually ended up at the University of Michigan.
She graduated from the University of Texas with a bachelor's degree in biology in 1976, and from University of Michigan with a Ph.D. in zoology in 1982. She was a research professor at the University of Arizona from 1986-2010. Her research has focused on the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum and its bacterial symbionts.
She continues to conduct research on bacterial symbionts in aphids and as well as other insect species, aand has expanded the scale of her research to bacterial evolution as a whole. She believes that a good understanding of genetic drift and random chance could prevent misunderstandings surrounnding evolution.
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