Dr. Merritt’s research combines genetics and experimentation to explore the connection between genetic diversity and biological complexity. Research in his group often focuses on metabolism, stress, and genetic networks using the fruit fly model system in the laboratory. One project, based in SNOLAB, the deep underground particle physics laboratory two kilometers underground in Creighton mine, uses the fly model, exercise, and this underground environment, to explore the biology of working underground. The central theme in all of Dr. Merritt’s research is complexity. Biology is complex and the more we embrace that, the better we understand the world around us.