Steven A. Frank

Picture of Steven A. Frank
Donald Bren Professor & UCI Distinguished Professor, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences
Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1987
Phone: (949)824-2244, 6006
Fax: (949) 824-2181
Email: safrank@uci.edu
University of California, Irvine
3102 BS3
Mail Code: 2525
Irvine, CA 92697
Research Interests
Evolutionary genetics, host-parasite interactions
Academic Distinctions
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Elected 2012
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Elected 2009
John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, 1995
Theodosius Dobzhansky Prize, Society for the Study of Evolution, 1988
Young Investigator Prize, American Society of Naturalists, 1986
Publications
Frank, S. A. 2025. How cancer arises: genetics releases, plasticity creates, genetics stabilizes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 122:e2505377122
Frank, S. A. 2025. The Price equation reveals a universal force-metric-bias law of algorithmic learning and natural selection. Entropy 27:1129
Frank, S. A. 2025. Natural selection at multiple scales. Evolution 79:1166-1184
Frank, S. A. 2024. A biological circuit to anticipate trend. Evolution Letters 8:719-725.
Frank, S. A. & Yanai, I. 2024. The origin of novel traits in cancer. Trends in Cancer 10:880-892
Frank, S. A. 2023. Robustness and complexity. Cell Systems 14:1015-1020.
Frank, S. A. 2022. Microbial Life History: The Fundamental Forces of Biological Design. Princeton University Press.
Frank, S. A. 2020. Simple unity among the fundamental equations of science. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 375:20190351.
Frank, S. A. and Bascompte, J. 2019. Invariance in ecological pattern. F1000Research 8:2093.
Frank, S. A. 2018. Control Theory Tutorial: Basic Concepts Illustrated by Software Examples. Springer, Cham, Switzerland.
Frank, S. A. 2016-2017. Puzzles in modern biology. I-V. [Series of five articles]. F1000Research.
Frank, S. A. 2016. The nature of cancer research. International Journal of Epidemiology 45:638-645.
Frank, S. A. 2011-2013. Natural selection. I-VII. [Series of seven articles]. Journal of Evolutionary Biology.
Frank, S. A. 2010. Somatic evolutionary genomics: Mutations during development cause highly variable genetic mosaicism with risk of cancer and neurodegeneration. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107:1725-1730.
Frank, S. A. 2009. The common patterns of nature. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22:1563-1585.
Frank, S. A. 2007. Dynamics of Cancer: Incidence, Inheritance, and Evolution. Princeton University Press.
Frank, S. A. 2002. Immunology and Evolution of Infectious Disease. Princeton University Press.
Frank, S. A. 1998. Foundations of Social Evolution. Princeton University Press.
Last updated
02/16/2026