People

Roles: Faculty, Potential Postdoc Mentor

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

The Turgeon lab works on mechanisms of fungal virulence to plants with particular emphasis on the roles of fungal secondary metabolites, iron and oxidative stress. Classical genetic, molecular genetic, and genomic approaches are used.

Roles: Faculty

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

We study how M.tuberculosis is capable of surviving within humans for decades in the face of a fully competent immune response.  Our focus is primarily on the bacterial pathways, innate immunity, and the evolution of bacterial drug resistance in mammalian hosts.

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

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

My lab studies how stress and social interactions alter the biological state of organisms and their gut microbes. Much of our work uses free-living passerine birds as systems to test the gut microbial impacts of stress and social connectedness. Student projects will involve field work and characterization of bird gut microbiomes using amplicon sequencing and computational skills.

Roles: Faculty

Research Areas:

With a dual focus on viral pathogenesis and stem cell biology, the objective of Dr. Gerlinde Van de Walle’s research is to open up new avenues towards therapeutic intervention by better understanding the pathogenesis of diseases important to veterinary and human medicine. To this end, her lab uses various model systems, including in vitro 2D cell cultures, ex vivo 3D explant and organoid models, and in vivo rodent and large animal models. Many veterinary species are naturally susceptible to pathogens closely related to those that infect humans.  Since these animal and human pathogens frequently share similar pathogenesis profiles, animal diseases might be considered translational models for their human counterparts. The viruses we currently study are equine hepatitis-associated viruses, (including equine hepacivirus and equine parvovirus-hepatitis), equine herpesviruses, and feline herpesvirus type 1.

Roles: Faculty, Potential Undergraduate Mentor

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

My lab has a broad interest in the structure and function of viral envelope proteins, and how genomic mutations lead to changes in the envelope proteins and control viral pathogenesis. We primarily study influenza viruses of humans and animals, and coronaviruses, principally, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and feline coronaviruses.  We are developing novel vaccines and diagnostic tests. Twitter: @whittakerIDlab

Roles: Faculty

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

Roles: Faculty

Research Areas: Agriculture Research, Fungi

I am an ecosystem ecologist interested in the patterns, mechanisms, and consequences of the interactions between terrestrial ecosystems and the environment. My research program uses process-based ecosystem models as ‘numerical greenhouses’ to integrate the every-increasing heterogeneous data sets in ecology (e.g. synthesis in traits, ground census, flux tower, and remote sensing) and to conduct experiments that help to answer the above questions.