I am currently a postdoctoral researcher with Mike Boots in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley.
My research focuses on how host diversity affects parasite adaptation. I use a moth-virus system (Plodia interpunctella and its granulosis virus) to conduct empirical studies, including experimental evolution, to investigate the evolution of virulence. Plodia, a "stored-product pest," is notorious for its larvae's ability to damage materials such as plastic containing grains, causing significant economic losses in agriculture. The USDA has tried to use Plodia's granulosis virus as a biocontrol agent for many years, with varying success. For our research, Plodia serves as an excellent model system due to its adaptation to human environments and the biological insights provided by the USDA.
So far, we have discovered that the spatial structure of host populations (such as varying food viscosity) selects for less virulent parasites. Additionally, there is often a trade-off between growth rate (mass accumulated per day until pupation) and resistance. This trade-off is particularly evident when hosts have limited nutrition, as they lack the energy or resources to invest fully in all areas. Our scientific goal is to create models that we can test empirically, which we have successfully done regarding cannibalism and spatial structure in this system.
I am currently funded on a UK-US Collaborative NSF Grant called "Heterogeneities, Diversity and the Evolution of Infectious Disease" by co-PIs Mike Boots (UC, Berkeley) and Andy White (Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland)
The primary projects that I am working on include:
I also enjoy teaching and mentoring and have served as a mentor for 9 undergraduates at UC Berkeley, two of which had their own funding through undergraduate research programs, and two of which participated in Berkeley's URAP (Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program). I have also taught a winter-term course at Bard College called Citizen Science, a seminar course for first-year students to enhance their science literacy.
My hobbies (in addition to pinning specimens and starting my own mini collection), include trail running, photography (macro & telephoto), and embroidery/cross-stitch.
My research focuses on how host diversity affects parasite adaptation. I use a moth-virus system (Plodia interpunctella and its granulosis virus) to conduct empirical studies, including experimental evolution, to investigate the evolution of virulence. Plodia, a "stored-product pest," is notorious for its larvae's ability to damage materials such as plastic containing grains, causing significant economic losses in agriculture. The USDA has tried to use Plodia's granulosis virus as a biocontrol agent for many years, with varying success. For our research, Plodia serves as an excellent model system due to its adaptation to human environments and the biological insights provided by the USDA.
So far, we have discovered that the spatial structure of host populations (such as varying food viscosity) selects for less virulent parasites. Additionally, there is often a trade-off between growth rate (mass accumulated per day until pupation) and resistance. This trade-off is particularly evident when hosts have limited nutrition, as they lack the energy or resources to invest fully in all areas. Our scientific goal is to create models that we can test empirically, which we have successfully done regarding cannibalism and spatial structure in this system.
I am currently funded on a UK-US Collaborative NSF Grant called "Heterogeneities, Diversity and the Evolution of Infectious Disease" by co-PIs Mike Boots (UC, Berkeley) and Andy White (Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland)
The primary projects that I am working on include:
- Long-term (>100 generations) experimental evolution of Plodia hosts adapting to high-nutrient and low-nutrient food, which may change their ability to resist a parasite (results forthcoming!)
- Isogenic lines of Plodia (and one outbred stock population) differ in life history traits (growth rate, etc.) and also in resistance. Can we correlate these phenotypes with their genotypes? How many genetic ways can an organism evolve phenotypic resistance?
- Spatial structure evolution: I am repeating the Boots and Mealor 2007 (Science) paper on a much larger scale as preliminary work to understanding parasite adaptation in both a spatially and genetically heterogeneous host environment.
- I have a small grant from Hastings Natural History Reserve (UC, Berkeley) to survey Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies, with a focus on Pyraloids) at Hastings as a follow-up to Jerry Powell's extensive collections that are now housed in the Essig Museum at UC Berkeley.
I also enjoy teaching and mentoring and have served as a mentor for 9 undergraduates at UC Berkeley, two of which had their own funding through undergraduate research programs, and two of which participated in Berkeley's URAP (Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program). I have also taught a winter-term course at Bard College called Citizen Science, a seminar course for first-year students to enhance their science literacy.
My hobbies (in addition to pinning specimens and starting my own mini collection), include trail running, photography (macro & telephoto), and embroidery/cross-stitch.
