Read the latest news and updates from the Biology department.
The emergence of infectious disease rarely ends in the complete extinction of host species. Frequently, the level of virulence in a severe disease system shifts such that hosts and pathogens can persist in a shared environment. However, the mechanistic underpinnings of these transitions are not well understood.
Sharon Stranford studies factors that influence the development of acquired immune deficiency. She and the undergraduate students who work in her research lab employ a mouse model of AIDS (MAIDS) in which some strains of mice develop immune deficiency following exposure to Murine Leukemia Virus (MuLV).
Trichomonas vaginalis is a protozoan parasite that causes the most common non-viral STI in the U.S. and worldwide. While complications due to Trichomonas infection can contribute to adverse reproductive outcomes and health disparities, not much is known about how the immune system responds to Trichomonas, or why the infection persists.
Heidi Aronson
12:30
The specific and exclusive microbiome of the deep-sea bone-eating snail, Rubyspira osteovora
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Emily Applewhite
1:00
Living in the Hybrid Zone: Testing the Species Squabble with two Mexican Highland Birds
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Flooding is the second leading cause of corn (Zea mays ssp. mays) crop loss in the United States and is further exacerbated by global climate change. While plants require water for growth, too much can impart multiple stresses, one of the greatest of which is limited oxygen availability due to decreased gas diffusion.