Research Interests
Microbial Communities
Microbial communities (collection of microscopic organisms like fungi, bacteria, viruses, and archaea) are integral for the survival of organisms and ecosystems. In hosts, microbes perform important functions like aiding in digestion, and protecting against pathogens. In ecosystems, environmental microbiomes help cycle the essential nutrients that all living organisms require to survive. My past and current research interests include using multi-omic approaches to understand host and environmentally associated microbial community responses to perturbations.
Gut Microbiome
The gut microbiome is critical for digestion and health of their herbivorous hosts. My current postdoctoral research aims to apply multi-omic techniques alongside lab experiments to explore the physiology and ecology between hosts and their microbial communities. Specifically, my work investigates how perturbations with respect to time, diet quality, and toxin consumption govern the interaction between the gut microbiome and their host. I use a combination of multi-omics bioinformatic techniques and lab experiments to explore these interactions in multiple herbivorous host systems, such as: snowshoe hares, greater sage-grouse, rock ptarmigan, moose and wild bumblebees. Understanding the microbial community responses to perturbation at both host and ecosystem levels will help facilitate conservation efforts and inform the impact of climate change in these respective systems.
Microbes and Climate Change
Anthropogenic influences like pollution and climate change drastically impact the environment, and microbial responses to these phenomena are uncertain. To address this uncertainty, I explored microbial functional and genetic variation with climate change. I investigated how shifts at microbial taxonomic (genus: Sphingomonas) and community levels influenced function. Understanding how microbes respond to climate change at both levels will help us inform future functional predictions.