Research Interests
Host-Microbe Interactions
I'm interested in a variety of host-microbe interactions. This interest developed from my undergraduate research in biochemistry, at a protein-protein level. However, as a graduate student, I became interested in host-microbe interactions, including plant-pathogen relationships and how hosts encourage mutualist relationships (e.g. mycorrhizae), while detecting pathogens as harmful, despite presenting many of the same molecular motifs.
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Most recently, I've identified an opportunity to expand these interests into the exciting and variable world of bacterial endosymbionts of fungal organisms. I'm just beginning to become familiar with bacterial endosymbionts of fungi, but am excited by the wealth of questions that remain unanswered!
Fungal Mating and Evolution
Recently, I have been exploring fungal mating, primarily through the text Sex in Fungi. I find the diverse set of mechanisms for controlling fungal mating type, cell-recognition, and karyogamy beautifully complicated. Particularly interesting are 1) how certain fungi can switch between homothallic and heterothallic lifestyles; 2) how bacterial endosymbionts have been found to modulate fungal reproduction habits; 3) recent discoveries that narnaviruses are involved in Rhizopus microsporus-Burkholderia relationships, and may be vertically inherited (Espino-Vázquez et al. 2020).
Big Data Mining & Recycling
Since the advent and continuous development of high-throughput sequencing techniques, huge amounts of data are being generated. Although much is generated to test specific hypotheses, I believe that the richness of these data are deeper than may be recognized and am interested in searching sequence databases (e.g. GenBank) to support or extend new hypotheses.
The "-omics" Approaches
My interest in "-omics" approaches is often practical. I'm interested in exploring using genomics, transcriptomics, and more to explore what makes organisms different, whether these differences are seen between different genotypes of plants, different isolates of fungal organisms, or different strains of bacteria.
For an example relating to my Master's work, "What could be responsible for different isolates of Sphaerulina musiva showing different levels of aggression on poplar hosts, when the difference in disease phenotypes due to host genotype has already been accounted for?"
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Related to my interest in bacterial endosymbionts of fungi, "What genes have been lost or gained by host or endosymbiont as the result of one organism relying upon the other? What genes are differentially expressed in bacterial endosymbionts during different stages of the fungal life cycle? How does the relationship of the fungus with a host affect the endosymbiont's gene expression or metabolite production?"