Sagar Bhowmik, College of Sciences and Mathematics Faculty and Staff

Professional Experience

Graduate Research Assistant — Schwartz Lab, Auburn University (Fall 2023–Present)

I conduct doctoral research on hormone–receptor coevolution in the insulin/IGF signaling pathway of Anolis lizards, integrating computational evolutionary analysis, structural and functional modeling, in vivo hormone quantification, and comparative morphology. I also mentor undergraduate research interns from Auburn and Westmont College in molecular biology techniques and project management.

Lead Graduate Teaching Assistant — Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University (Spring 2023–Present)

I lead organismal biology laboratory sections across the BIOL 1027/1031/1037 sequence, instructing approximately 250 students per semester in microscopy, comparative anatomy, plant and animal diversity, and tissue identification. I also coordinate grading and lab logistics with the teaching team.

Research Assistant — Khulna University Research Cell, Khulna University, Bangladesh (November 2019–December 2022)

I worked on computational drug-design studies of viral protease targets, including virtual screening, molecular docking, and structural analysis of candidate antivirals.

Research Assistant — Bioinformatics Lab, Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Discipline, Khulna University, Bangladesh (January 2017–October 2018)

I supported projects in sequence analysis, phylogenetics, and homology modeling, and trained undergraduate students in computational biology workflows.

Innovation

My dissertation spans the genotype-to-phenotype arc of the insulin/IGF signaling pathway in Anolis lizards — one of the most diverse vertebrate radiations on Earth, and a system in which the IIS network shows a striking pattern of evolutionary tension. IGF1 is unusually variable across Anolis species, particularly in its receptor-binding C-domain, while its sister hormone, IGF2, remains highly conserved. This asymmetry creates a natural laboratory for asking how endocrine signaling preserves function while accommodating substantial sequence variation in one of its core ligands.

My chapters work outward from this molecular puzzle:

Molecular coevolution. I use phylogenetic selection analysis, coevolving-residue detection, structural modeling and molecular docking across the Anolis radiation to test whether IGF hormones and their receptors evolve in a coordinated way at the binding interface.

Functional validation. I combine experimental and simulation-based approaches to test how hormone–receptor binding has changed across species spanning the IGF1 divergence gradient.

In vivo expression. I am developing and validating aptamer-based assays to quantify circulating IGF hormones in small-volume plasma samples from non-model reptiles, connecting sequence variation to physiology.

Morphological consequences. I use phylogenetic comparative methods to link IIS sequence divergence to body size and limb-proportion variation across the Anolis adaptive radiation.

Together, these chapters bridge molecular evolution, biophysics, comparative endocrinology and morphological diversification — working toward a framework for understanding how complex signaling networks can remain evolutionarily flexible without losing functional integrity.