Contact Information
407 S. Goodwin Ave
Urbana, IL 61801
Research Interests
Evolutionary genomic, transcriptomic, and physiological changes in cold adaptation and specialization in Antarctic and Arctic fishes. Molecular evolution of antifreeze proteins and other cold-adaptive genes and functions. Marine biodiversity in Polar regions. Field research in Antarctica and the Arctic.
Additional Campus Affiliations
Professor, Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior
External Links
Recent Publications
Rayamajhi, N., Rivera-Colón, A. G., Minhas, B. F., Christina Cheng, C. H., & Catchen, J. M. (2025). The genome of the cryopelagic Antarctic bald notothen, Trematomus borchgrevinki. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 15(1), Article jkae257. https://doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkae267
Cheng, C. H. C., & O’Brien, K. (2024). Extraordinary creatures: notothenioids and icefish. Journal of Experimental Biology, 227(12), Article jeb247957. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.247957
Corso, A. D., Desvignes, T., McDowell, J. R., Cheng, C. H. C., Biesack, E. E., Steinberg, D. K., & Hilton, E. J. (2024). Akarotaxis gouldae, a new species of Antarctic dragonfish (Notothenioidei: Bathydraconidae) from the western Antarctic Peninsula. Zootaxa, 5501(2), 265-290. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5501.2.3
Rives, N., Lamba, V., Cheng, C. H. C., & Zhuang, X. (2024). Diverse Origins of Near-Identical Antifreeze Proteins in Unrelated Fish Lineages Provide Insights into Evolutionary Mechanisms of New Gene Birth and Protein Sequence Convergence. Molecular biology and evolution, 41(9), Article msae182. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msae182
Cheng, C.-H. C., Rivera-Colón, A. G., Minhas, B. F., Wilson, L., Rayamajhi, N., Vargas-Chacoff, L., & Catchen, J. M. (2023). Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly and Circadian Gene Repertoire of the Patagonia Blennie Eleginops maclovinus—The Closest Ancestral Proxy of Antarctic Cryonotothenioids. Genes, 14(6), Article 1196. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes14061196