• Ph. D. Evolutionary Biology, 1998, University of Chicago
• M. Arch. (Architecture), 1983, Harvard University
• B. S. Architectural Studies, 1979, University of Illinois

My interest is in the developmental sources of morphological differences between animal groups. The material for morphological change is variation in developmental patterns. This variation is filtered through the sieve of natural selection, and other genetic evolutionary processes, to result in the animal forms we find today. My work is the study of developmental variation at the level of regulation of gene expression.

Current studies are focused on examining the extent and nature of variation in genomic regulatory elements. The research employs a variety of techniques to determine gene expression patterns and functionally test genomic regulatory DNA for its role in controlling those expression patterns. The principle study organisms are ascidians, which have a number of experimental advantages for this work, especially for transgenic reporter assays. The data are analyzed in a phylogenetic context both within ascidians and in relation to data from other chordates. The long term goal of these studies is to apply increasingly fine levels of comparative analysis to trace evolutionary patterns in regulatory DNA.

Past research and future plans include a range of taxa. The study groups are chosen based on the evolutionary question involved. While current work is on genomic regulation, my interests extend throughout the field of evolutionary developmental biology.

• Irvine SQ, Fonseca VC, Antony R, Zompa MA (2008) Cis-regulation of the Pax6 gene in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis. Developmental Biology 317:649-659.


• Irvine SQ (2007) Whole-mount in-situ hybridization of small invertebrate embryos using laboratory mini-columns. Biotechniques 43:764-768.


• Irvine SQ, Cangiano MC, Millette BJ, Gutter ES (2007) Non-overlapping expression patterns of the clustered Dll-A/B genes in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 308B: 428-441.


• Irvine SQ, Seaver EC (2006) Early Annelid Development, A Molecular Perspective. Pp 91-138 in Rouse G, Pleijel F, eds. Reproductive Biology and Phylogeny of Annelida. Jamieson BJM, series ed. Science Publishers: New Hampshire, USA.


• Sumiyama K, Irvine SQ, Ruddle FH (2003) The role of gene duplication in the evolution and function of the vertebrate Dlx/distal-less bigene clusters. J. Struc. Func. Genomics 3: 151-159.


• Irvine SQ, Carr JL, Bailey W, Amemiya C, Ruddle FH (2002) Genomic analysis of Hox clusters in the sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 294:47-62.


• Sumiyama K, Irvine SQ, Stock DW, Weiss KM, Kawasaki K, Shimizu N, Shashikant CS, Miller W, Ruddle FH (2002) Genomic structure and functional control of the Dlx3-7 bigene cluster. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99:780-785.


• Irvine SQ, Martindale MQ (2001) Comparative analysis of Hox gene expression patterns in the polychaete Chaetopterus: implications for the evolution of body plan regionalization. Am. Zool. 41:640-651.


• Irvine SQ, Martindale MQ (2000) Expression patterns of anterior Hox genes in the polychaete Chaetopterus: Correlation with morphological boundaries. Dev. Biol. 217:333-351.


• Panganiban G, Irvine SM, Lowe C, Roehl H, Corley LS, Sherbon B, Grenier JK, Fallon JF, Kimble J, Walker M, Wray GA, Swalla BJ, Martindale MQ, Carroll SB (1997) The origin and evolution of animal appendages. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94:5162-5166. (SMI is co-first author)


• Irvine SQ, Warriner S, Hunter J, Martindale MQ (1997) A survey of homeobox genes in Chaetopterus variopedatus and analysis of polychaete homeodomains. Mol. Phylogen. Evol. 7:331-345.