People

Roles: Faculty, Potential Postdoc Mentor

Research Areas: Animal Hosts, Disease Ecology and Evolution, Genetics, Genomics and Cell Biology of Infection

A main driver of vector-borne disease transmission is the ecology of the insect vector. Changes in climate and land use alter ecological relationships insect vectors have with their hosts and pathogens, resulting in shifts in transmission. The research in the Murdock lab applies ecological and evolutionary theory to better understand the host-vector-pathogen interaction, key environmental drivers of transmission, and how environmental change will affect vector-borne disease transmission and control.

Roles: Faculty

Research Areas: Animal Hosts, Bacteria, Disease Ecology and Evolution, Genetics, Genomics and Cell Biology of Infection, Microbiota and Microbiomes, Plant Hosts

My research spans infection biology across scales and systems, utilizing a variety of theoretical and computational approaches, such as: modeling of infectious disease dynamics in complex populations, networks and landscapes; characterizing the structure, function and evolution of cellular networks involved in pathogen virulence and host immune response, and; probing the logic of information processing underlying recognition, communication, disruption, and evasion in host-pathogen interactions.

Roles: CIHMID Postdoc

Research Areas: Agriculture Research, Animal Hosts, Disease Ecology and Evolution, Microbiota and Microbiomes, Plant Hosts

Lucas studies how populations and communities are shaped by interacting ecological and evolutionary dynamics that play out across space. Given the conceptual breadth of questions that interest him, Lucas uses a range of approaches (e.g., theory, experiments, population genomics) and systems (e.g., insect host–parasitoid, microbial competitors) to address them. Lucas’s current work focuses on how patterns of dispersal can change outcomes of between-species interactions. He is using mathematical modeling of a symbiosis between Pseudomonas bacteria and pea plants to understand how dispersal, insect communities, and connectivity among fields affect this relationship across scales, from plants to landscapes.

Roles: Faculty

Research Areas: Agriculture Research, Fungi, Genetics, Genomics and Cell Biology of Infection, Plant Hosts

We study disease resistance in maize and sorghum with a substantial focus on fungal pathogens that produce toxins and cause large-scale food system contamination. We work at scales ranging from a single nucleotide (which genetic variations provide quantitative resistance) to whole-plant phenotypes (looking at tradeoffs between resistance mechanisms and other traits) to agroecologies (what environmental factors lead to plant stresses associated with mycotoxin outbreaks).

Roles: Faculty, Potential Undergraduate Mentor

Research Areas: Bacteria, Genetics, Genomics and Cell Biology of Infection

The Nisbett lab is interested in determining the mechanisms of pathogenesis of clinically significant yet critically understudied bacterial pathogens such as nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). In the clinic, NTM infections have become increasingly problematic as they are the primary cause of pulmonary lung infections, and are difficult to clear due to biofilm formation. As a result, there is a critical need for elucidating the mechanisms of NTM pathogenesis to develop novel therapeutics for NTM associated diseases. Using the model organism Mycobacterium abscessus, and genetic, biochemical, and metabolite quantification-based approaches, our lab will broadly address this need by investigating what molecular mechanisms drive NTM biofilm formation. Our work will provide insight into whether these mechanisms could be utilized for future anti-bacterial applications against NTM infections.

Roles: Faculty, Potential Postdoc Mentor

Research Areas: Animal Hosts, Genetics, Genomics and Cell Biology of Infection, Viruses

The Parker lab uses the mammalian orthoreovirus model system and other human viruses to study virus-host interactions at the molecular and cellular level. Current projects are focused on the mechanisms viruses use to overcome translational repression and optimize translation of viral mRNAs, as well as pathogenesis studies to understand the transcriptional response of infected tissues to viral infection.

Roles: Faculty

Research Areas: Animal Hosts, Disease Ecology and Evolution, Genetics, Genomics and Cell Biology of Infection, Microbiota and Microbiomes, Veterinary/Clinical Research, Viruses

My laboratory studies viruses, with a particular focus on viruses that have jumped into new hosts to cause epidemics of disease. One model we study is canine parvovirus, which is a cat virus that transferred into dogs in the mid-1970s and subsequently caused a global pandemic of disease. Other viruses we study are the H3N8 and H3N2 canine influenza viruses, which transferred from horses or birds to dogs. Both caused an epidemic of canine disease for at least 15 years. Our work is defining the principles that underlie successful viral emergence, including risk factors associated with origins of new viruses in humans.

Roles: Faculty, Potential MFF (REU) Host, Potential Postdoc Mentor, Potential Undergraduate Mentor

Research Areas: Agriculture Research, Bacteria, Disease Ecology and Evolution, Fungi, Genetics, Genomics and Cell Biology of Infection, Microbiota and Microbiomes, Plant Hosts

We study the mechanisms underlying ecological interactions between fungi and bacteria.  Student projects will focus on current work to characterize the bacteria associated with mycorrhizal fungi in poorly studied desert habitats in California and Israel. Students will learn culture and microscopy techniques, and phylogenetic analysis.

Roles: Faculty, Potential MFF (REU) Host, Potential Undergraduate Mentor

Research Areas: Bacteria, Disease Ecology and Evolution, Genetics, Genomics and Cell Biology of Infection, Microbiota and Microbiomes, Viruses

The Peters lab studies microbial evolution via mobile genetic elements. We are interested in how mobile elements evolve new functions within host-associated bacteria. Students in the lab will develop skills in bioinformatics, molecular genetics, and biochemistry. An example student project is using sequencing data to characterize insertion sites of a transposon across a bacterial genome.

Roles: Faculty, Potential Postdoc Mentor

Research Areas: Animal Hosts, Bacteria, Disease Ecology and Evolution, Genetics, Genomics and Cell Biology of Infection, Microbiota and Microbiomes, Veterinary/Clinical Research, Viruses

Our lab seeks to understand and prevent spillover of zoonotic pathogens from wildlife to other species. We develop the science of pandemic prevention through collaborative, transdisciplinary science. We work in the field, the lab, and in silico, all with a commitment to translate the science we develop to the public.