Guillermo Orti

Guillermo Orti is the Department Chair and Louis Weintraub Professor of Biology at the Department of Biological Sciences, Columbian College of Arts & Sciences, George Washington University. His research focuses on molecular systematics, phylogeography, and ecological genetics/genomics, with a primary emphasis on fish evolution. He leads NSF-funded projects such as the DeepFin Research Coordination Network and the Euteleost Tree of Life Project, aiming to resolve fish phylogenies using genomic tools like exon-capture approaches and next-gen sequencing.

His work integrates field studies in Patagonia, the Amazon, Caribbean, and Galápagos with lab-based genomic analyses. Recent projects include genomic studies on flatfish asymmetry, annual killifish diapause mechanisms, and marine-freshwater transitions in silversides. Orti’s lab collaborates on the FishLife Project to document vertebrate fish phylogeny and traits, contributing to a new phylogenetic classification of bony fishes.

Key grants include NSF awards for studying fish radiations, habitat transitions, and the evolutionary impacts of paleoclimatic changes. He has published extensively on fish phylogeny, hybridization dynamics, and genomic adaptations. His research bridges evolutionary biology with conservation, addressing questions in both molecular mechanisms and large-scale biogeographic patterns.