Shingleton has been awarded a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the evolution of phenotypic plasticity in Drosophila, otherwise known as the common fruit fly. Phenotypic plasticity is the phenomenon where changes in environment—including nutrition, temperature, and oxygen level—affect morphology, physiology, or behavior.

“The type of phenotypic plasticity we are interested in is the effect of changes in nutrition on body and organ size, using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism,” Shingleton explained. 

The grant will be used to identify the genes that cause variations in sensitivity to body and organ size in response to environmental change.

The three-year grant is for $850,000, of which $400,000 is for work to be conducted at Lake Forest College, in collaboration the University of Houston. The grant will fund up to four Lake Forest College student researchers at a time as well as a technician, who is a recent graduate of the College.

This is the second NSF grant awarded to Shingleton since joining the faculty in 2013. The first grant, for $300,000, supported his work on the effect of oxygen level in growth of Drosophila.