Maxwell C. Coyle

This study identifies an ancient sensory receptor family in choanoflagellates that detects bacterial prey, revealing ancestral features of animal sensation before multicellularity.

This study shows that the choanoflagellate Choanoeca flexa forms multicellular sheets through clonal or aggregative mechanisms, adapting to environmental changes in splash pools.

The paper shows that cell differentiation in choanoflagellates enables iron acquisition through a cytochrome b561 gene, linking cell type specialization to ecological iron cycling.