[citation needed] Lents moved to Saint Louis University School of Medicine for his doctoral work and graduated with a Ph.D. in Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences in 2004.

[8] In addition, as a PhD student, Lents developed an innovative "reverse mutational" approach to discovering key phosphorylation sites on the Retinoblastoma protein, one of the most important tumor suppressors.

His laboratory recently discovered a set of microRNA genes on human chromosome 21 that are not shared with other apes and that appear to have originated de novo through genomic rearrangements.

"[21] Lents explains that humans no longer need to rely on the body's physical ability because we learned to solve life's challenges by using our brains to invent tools and our social capabilities to allow for division of labor and cooperation.

[22] Lents's next book will be published in February 2025 by HarperCollins and is tentatively titled The Sexual Evolution: How 500 Million Years of Sex, Gender, and Mating Shape Modern Relationships.

Lents will argue that human sexuality is "diverse, flexible, and adaptable", able to conform to the mandates of heteronormative power structures but not inherently monogamous.

[24][25] Lents was thrust into the public eye as a defender of evolutionary science, especially in the context of education and politics in the United States.

As part of this debate, Lents and a few colleagues deconstructed and rebutted a popular book on Intelligent Design, Darwin Devolves: The New Science About DNA That Challenges Evolution, written by creationist and biochemist Michael Behe.

According to Lents, the exercise provided an opportunity both to clarify how evolution actually works and "how strongly bias can affect your interpretation of evidence".

[24][26] Proponents of Intelligent Design reacted with a flurry of negative articles, but Lents responded to their arguments and personal attacks by keeping the discussion focused on the science.

"[29] Lents is the host and executive producer of the This World of Humans podcast, a collaboration with the Visionlearning project, focusing on new research in the area of biology and social science.

[38] Lents's work has been quoted by various publications, including the Associated Press, Vice, The New York Times, Scientific American and others.