Haoran Cai

I am currently a graduate student at MIT in Des Marais Lab. I use both empirical and theoretical approaches to understand the developmental origin of evolutionary complexity, innovation, and diversity. My main research question is to ask how fundamental principles governing developmental systems shape our thinkings of evolutionary, quantitative, and population genetics.

I received my B.S. from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), during which I was advised by Ping Ao. I was a visiting undergraduate student at Harvard Medical School in Hormoz Lab. I also visited CEFE at CNRS with Luis-Miguel Chevin in 2024.