Author: sueishaqlab

I'm an assistant professor of animal and veterinary studies at the University of Maine, Orono, studying how animals get their microbes. I am also the Founder and Lead of the Microbes and Social Equity working group.

Speaker lineup confirmed for ‘Session 5: MSE Education Practices and Curriculum Design’ at the July 2022 MSE virtual symposium!

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The speaker lineup is set for the fifth (and final) day of the July 2022 MSE virtual symposium, which is focused on “MSE Education Practices and Curriculum Design”. This session will feature three talks featuring educators who have brought sociology into their microbiome courses, and vice versa, and who have experience creating out-of-the-box curricula to engage students in learning while helping them to see themselves as scientists. Our hope is that attendees for this session learn from different perspectives how to creatively present microbiology courses which situate learning about the microbiome with learning about social and environmental systems.

The program for the July 2022 MSE virtual symposium, “Developing transformative Research Skills”, is beginning to take shape as we continue to confirm speakers for the 5 sessions, the full program for which can be found here.

Session 5: “MSE Education Practices and Curriculum Design”

Friday, July 22nd, 12:30 ~ 16:00 EST. Register for this session.

Session leaders:

Erin Eggleston, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biology, Middlebury College

Monica Trujillo

Monica Trujillo, Ph.D., Associate Professor, of Biology Queensborough Community College, The City University of New York

Carla Bonilla, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of San Diego

Scope: Curriculum which blends disciplines is highly engaging, and can be used to teach complex concepts, and can help students combine their existing cultural and social identities with their growing researcher identity. However, creating an interdisciplinary curriculum can be challenging. This session frames educational conversations in MSE, and gives perspectives on creating courses that blend microbiome and social sciences for different levels of education.

Learning Objectives of Session: Attendees will 1) identify successes and barriers to entry for MSE curriculum at different education levels (K-12, UG, grad, general public), 2) Share ways in which we incorporate MSE in our curricula (i.e. assignments, class period, multi-day module, full course, etc.); 3) develop ideas for further curriculum design for their own courses.

Format of talks: Three 30-min lecture-style talks from education practitioners who have successfully built courses around MSE topics, including an outline of learning goals, approach to course, lessons learned/challenges, and more.

Format of breakout rooms: Each room creates a lesson plan outline, and each room has a designated topic area (e.g. human microbiome equity) to help audience members group by teaching discipline.

Session Speakers

Sarah Miller

Sarah Miller, M.S., Executive Director of Tiny Earth at University of Wisconsin-Madison

“Tiny Earth, A Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE)”

Dr. Ally Hunter
Dr. Melissa Zwick

Dr. Ally Hunter, PhD., Lecturer, iCONS Program & Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Youth Engagement, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Part of NSF Project RAISE (Reclaiming Access to Inquiry Science Education for Incarcerated Learners), and NSF Project INSITE (INtegrating STEM Into Transition Education for Incarcerated Youth).

Dr. Melissa Zwick, PhD., Associate Professor of Biology, Stockton University

“Science through storytelling:  Using case study pedagogy as inclusive practice in undergraduate microbiology.” 

Dr. Davida Smyth

Dr. Davida Smyth, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Molecular Microbiology at Texas A&M University in San Antonio

“Using wicked problems to CURE your teaching”

12:30 – 14:15 Introduction and Speakers

14:15 – 14:30 Break

14:30 – 16:00 Breakout room discussions based on skills development, in smaller groups

  • Undergraduate microbiology courses resources/MSE integration
  • Pedagogy as scholarship/publishing mechanisms/resources
  • Assessing case study style teaching

Prior to this session, you may want to watch these recorded talks:

Speaker lineup confirmed for ‘Session 1: Context-aware experimental designs’ at the July 2022 MSE virtual symposium!

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The speaker lineup is set for the first day of the July 2022 MSE virtual symposium, which is focused on “Context-aware experimental designs”. The three talks, featuring a total of 5 researchers, will present perspectives on the human microbiome and studying it within broader contexts to better understand our interactions with microbes. Our hope is that attendees for this session learn from different perspectives how to more creatively design or analyze their research to account for the effects that social policy and local environment can have on microbial exposures.

The program for the July 2022 MSE virtual symposium, “Developing transformative Research Skills”, is beginning to take shape as we continue to confirm speakers for the 5 sessions, the full program for which can be found here.

Session 1: “Context-aware experimental designs”

Monday, July 18th, 12:30 ~ 16:00 EST. Register for this session.

Session leaders:

Dr. Ariangela Kozik, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Michigan, and the Co-founder and Vice President of the Black Microbiologists Association

Sue Ishaq

Dr. Sue Ishaq, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at University of Maine and Founder of the Microbes and Social Equity working group.

Scope: Microbiome research often uses broad categorical factors as proxy factors for complex social or environmental contexts, but these can ignore or obscure underlying trends. This session will unpack proxy terms like race, Western diet, dysbiosis, rural/urban, and more, to differentiate what variables we actually want to measure and how to accomplish this in data collection and analysis. This session will also discuss how to communicate microbiome results in relation to broader contexts of lived experiences, rather than attributing results to broad proxy categories.

Learning Objectives of Session: Attendees will learn 1) the process of identifying more precise and appropriate measurement variables when engaging in human-adjacent microbiome research, instead of using proxy factors, 2) how to include more resolution to factorial data during collection, and 3) examples of how to process complex social data during microbiome data analysis.

Format of talks: Three 30-min lecture-style talks will disambiguate proxy categorizations into more precise variables that consider social contexts, approach to course, lessons learned/challenges.

Format of breakout rooms: Each room creates a concept map which disambiguates a proxy category into specific variables, and discusses how to frame surrey questions or leverage existing data to obtain this information. Each room has a designated topic area (e.g. environmental restoration) to help audience members group by discipline or type of information they are looking for.

Session Speakers:

Dr. Elizabeth Roberts

Dr. Elizabeth F.S. Roberts, PhD., Professor of Anthropology, University of Michigan

“Making better numbers through bioethnography“

“Proposal of Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status Based Analysis of Human Microbiome Project”

Dr. Katherine Maki, PhD., Assistant Clinical Investigator, Translational Biobehavioral and Health Disparities Branch, National Institutes of Health Clinical Center

Dr. Nicole M. Farmer, M.D., Principal Investigator, Translational Biobehavioral and Health Disparities Branch, NIH Clinical Center

Dr. Kelly K. Jones, Ph.D., RN, Research Fellow, Neighborhoods and Health Lab, Division of Intramural Research, National Institutes of Health

Dr. Osama Tanous, M.D., Palestinian pediatrician based in Haifa and a board member of Physicians for Human Rights – Israel; Visiting Scientist, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University; Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow of Public Health and Health Policies, Emory University. His recent publication can be found here.

“From bedside to the journal – understanding bacteria in a settler colonial setting”

12:30 – 14:15 Introduction and Speakers

14:15 – 14:30 Break

14:30 – 16:00 Breakout room discussions based on skills development, in smaller groups

  1. Deconstructing race as a biological variable
  2. Common pitfalls/challenges to experimental design 
  3. Matching clinical work to social contexts.
  4. Bioethnography to generate hypotheses
  5. Planning for variables in microbiome and social research
  6. Combining microbiome and social data analysis
  7. TBD

Prior to this session, you may want to watch these recorded talks:

Featured image from Robinson et al. 2022.

Welcome Alexis, for the 2022 REU program!

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The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) 2022 summer program has begun again, and the Ishaq Lab is pleased to welcome Alexis!

Alexis Kirkendall

Undergraduate Researcher, Biology, Heidelberg University

Alexis is from Ohio and is majoring in Biology at Heidelberg University. Her research interests are in genetics and she has a love for the fascinating world of microbes. She joined the lab through the Summer 2022 REU. She is researching Cryptosporidium in cows, helping in the MSE Symposium, and aiding in the Camel Rumen Microbiome Project this summer.

Across the U.S., REU programs are intended to engage undergraduates in research, including those who have no or very little research experience and no opportunity to do so at their home institution. The program I volunteer for is through the UMaine Initiative for One Health and the Environment, which brings about 10 students to campus for 10 weeks to engage in research and professional development. In addition to participating in research, the students attend workshops of coming up with research plans and questions, professional development plans, their resumes, posters, presentations, and other skills.

Ishaq Lab and MSE at ASM Microbe 2022 conference

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Ishaq Lab posters

Initial Descriptions of the Microbes of Farmed Atlantic Sea Scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) Veligers and Rearing Tanks. S. Hosler, E. Grey, A. Dankwa, J. Perry, T. Bowden, B. Beal, S. Ishaq. Poster Session AES10 – Marine Microbiology, June 10, 2022, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM Exhibit and Poster Hall. Presenter available during Poster Presentation 1 (10:30 am – 11:30 am) and Poster Presentation 2 (4 pm – 5 pm) at their assigned poster board.

Prevention of Inflammatory Bowel Disease by Broccoli Sourced and Microbially Produced Bioactives
J. M. Holman, S. Ishaq, Y. Li, T. Zhang, G. Mawe, L. Colucci, J. Balkan. Exhibit and Poster Hall. Poster session HMB06 Microbiome-Host Interactions III. June 12, 2022, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM. Presenter available during Poster Presentation 1 (10:30 am – 12:30 pm).

The Microbes and Social Equity working group is hosting a special session

CTS16 (PPS). Microbes and Social Equity: the Microbial Components of Social, Environmental, and Health Justice

June 11, 2022, 1:45 PM – 3:45 PM, Room 206

Microorganisms are critical to many aspects of biological life, including human health. The collective microbial community, our microbiome, can be impacted by the details of our lifestyle, including diet, hygiene, health status, and more, but many are driven by social, economic, medical, or political constraints that restrict available choices that may impact our health. Access to resources is the basis for creating and resolving social equity, access to healthcare, healthy foods, a suitable living environment, and to beneficial microorganisms, but also access to personal and occupational protection to avoid exposure to infectious disease. This special session explores the way that microbes connect public policy, social disparities, and human health, as well as the ongoing research, education, policy, and innovation in this field.

5 Presentations

1:45 PM – 3:45 PMMicrobes and Social Equity: the Microbial Components of Social, Environmental, and Health Justice
Suzanne Ishaq; Univ. of Maine, Orono, ME
1:45 PM – 2:15 PMInvited Speaker
Monica Trujillo; Queensborough Community Coll., New York, NY
2:15 PM – 2:45 PMInvited Speaker
Ariangela Kozik; Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2:45 PM – 3:15 PMInvited Speaker
Carla Bonilla; Gonzaga Univ., Spokane, WA
3:15 PM – 3:45 PMPanel Discussion

Upon completion of this Cross-Track Symposium, the participant should be able to:

  • Recognize the connections that microbiomes have to social equity. This will be demonstrated with examples/case studies presented by speakers.
  • Discuss relevant issues in microbiomes and their connection to social equity and identify issues which could be explored further.
  • Appraise your own work for these connections between microbiomes and social equity, to designate places for professional growth and applying equitable design.

After this session, MSE will be having an informal meet up, as most of us have never met in person!

Presentations and posters from some of our Microbes and Social Equity group members

Please note, the presenters’ names are bolded, and this is not to denote which author is part of MSE. We have included these in order to cross-promote talks, but these presentations may be independent of members’ MSE activities. This is a non-exhaustive list.

In-depth Symposium. EEB05. Interacting Stressor Effects on Microbial-Climate Change Feedbacks
June 10, 2022, 8:15 AM – 10:15 AM, room 144ABC, Convener, Adriana Romero-Olivares
 
8:15 AM – 8:45 AM
Fungal responses to drought and disturbance in a desert ecosystem and potential feedbacks to climate change, Adriana Romero-Olivares

9:30 AM – 9:45 AM
Soil Bacteria Adapt to a Warming World, K. M. DeAngelis, A. Narayanan, A. Eng, M. Choudoir
Benchmarking Software to Predict Antibiotic Resistance Phenotypes in Shotgun Metagenomes Using Simulated Data.
E. F. Wissel, B. M. Talbot, B. Johnson, R. Petit, III, V. Hertzberg, A. Dunlop, T. Read. SESSION Rapid Fire. S102. Rapid Fire: Omics and Machine Learning on the Fight against AMR. June 10, 2022, 8:15 AM – 9:05 AM/ Lounge and Learn 1.
A Model within a Model: Using Cheese Microbiomes to Investigate Host-Phage Interactions within a Community. T. Spencer, A. Sarabia, G. Heussler, S. Villareal, R. Dutton. Session HMB07 Phage-Host Interactions. June 10, 2022, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM. Exhibit and Poster Hall.
Peril And Healthy Trichosporon Asahii: The Similar Capability To Adhere And Form Biofilms. S. H.S, S. Mandya Rudramurthy, N. Nayak. Poster. CPHM06 Diagnostic Mycology. June 10, 2022, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM Exhibit and Poster Hall
Dispersal Limitation and Density-Dependent Processes Structure Streptomyces Populations at Small Spatial Scales. J. Hariharan, D. Buckley. Rapid Fire. S107. Rapid Fire: Ecology, Evolution, and Biodiversity. June 11, 2022, 8:15 – 9:05 AM. Lounge and Learn 2.
Comparison of Antibiotic Resistance in Biofilm, Sediment, and Planktonic Communities in an Urbanized River. M. B. Coughter, R. Franklin. Session AES03 – Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment 2.  June 11, 2022, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM  Exhibit and Poster Hall
Microbes and Social Equity: what is it and how do we do it?.
S. Ishaq. Session AES018 – Field Work & DEI: Fostering Equitable Partnerships with the Communities in Your Field. June 11, 2022, 11:45 AM – 12:30 PM. AES Track Hub, located in the Exhibit Hall.
Panel discussion: Encouraging culture change for open data
Pajau Vangay. Session ASM Town Hall Title: Advancing collaborative research with the National Microbiome Data Collaborative. Panel discussion: Encouraging culture change for open data.  June 11, 2022, 11:15 AM – 11:30 AM.  202AB
Antibiotic Resistance at the Human-Animal Interface in Southeast Asia.
M. Nadimpalli, M. Stegger, R. Viau, V. Yith, A. de Lauzanne, N. Sem, L. Borand, B-t. Huynh, S. Brisse, V. Passet, S. Overballe-Petersen, M. Aziz, M. Gouali, J. Jacobs, T. Phe, B. Hungate, V. Leshyk, A. J. Pickering, F. Gravey, C. M. Liu, T. J. Johnson, S. Le Hello, L. B. Price. SESSION Poster. EEB01 – Ecology of host-associated microbiomes. June 12, 2022, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM. Exhibit and Poster Hall. Presenter available during Poster Presentation 1 (10:30 am – 12:30 pm).

MSE Research Design Skills course will be piloted this summer!

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In conjunction with the Microbes and Social Equity virtual symposium being held in July, I will be piloting a special topics graduate course called AVS 590: Research skills combining microbes and social equity. Information about enrollment can be found through the UMaine Summer University program.

The symposium will convene researchers from different disciplines, foci, and geographic locations, and fosters in-depth conversations and research skills development. It is an ideal venue for training graduate students and incubating their burgeoning ideas. Thus, students in the class will attend the symposium, engage in conversations before and after attending sessions to reflect on how our perspectives changed, and create written assignments that will receive peer and instructor feedback. If the course is successful, I hope to add additional instructors and enrollment, we will expand the course and host it again each year we host the symposium.

AVS-590-MSE-sympoosium-syllabus-summer-2022-web-version-1Download

Collaborative paper accepted on winter wheat, weeds, and climate.

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The last paper to be generated from the large-scale, multi-year, collaborative research I participated in as a postdoc at Montana State University in the Menalled Lab in 2016 has finally been accepted for publication! At the time, I was working on the soil bacteria associated with winter wheat crops under different simulated climate change scenarios, and with added stressors like weed competition and different farming strategies. I was part of a large team of researchers looking at various aspects of agricultural stressors on long-term food production, including several agroecologists who led the development of this paper.

Weed communities in winter wheat: responses to cropping systems and predicted warmer and drier climate conditions.

Tim Seipel, Suzanne L. Ishaq, Christian Larson, Fabian D. Menalled. Sustainability 2022, 14(11), 6880; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116880. Special Issue “Sustainable Weed Control in the Agroecosystems“

Abstract

Understanding the impact of biological and environmental stressors on cropping systems is essential to secure the long-term sustainability of agricultural production in the face of unprecedented climatic conditions. This study evaluated the effect of increased soil temperature and reduced moisture across three contrasting cropping systems: a no-till chemically managed system, a tilled organic system, and an organic system that used grazing to reduce tillage intensity. Results showed that while cropping system characteristics represent a major driver in structuring weed communities, the short-term impact of changes in temperature and moisture conditions appear to be more subtle. Weed community responses to temperature and moisture manipulations differed across variables: while biomass, species richness, and Simpson’s diversity estimates were not affected by temperature and moisture conditions, we observed a minor but significant shift in weed community composition. Higher weed biomass was recorded in the grazed/reduced-till organic system compared with the tilled-organic and no-till chemically managed systems. Weed communities in the two organic systems were more diverse than in the no-till conventional system, but an increased abundance in perennial species such as Cirsium arvense and Taraxacum officinale in the grazed/reduced-till organic system could hinder the adoption of integrated crop-livestock production tactics. Species composition of the no-till conventional weed communities showed low species richness and diversity, and was encompassed in the grazed/reduced-till organic communities. The weed communities of the no-till conventional and grazed/reduced-till organic systems were distinct from the tilled organic community, underscoring the effect that tillage has on the assembly of weed communities. Results highlight the importance of understanding the ecological mechanisms structuring weed communities, and integrating multiple tactics to reduce off-farm inputs while managing weeds.

The related works from that project include:

Similar work has been done by that group, including:

Sue talking a selfie in the UMaine parking lot in full regalia.

2022 graduating students

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UMaine and many other universities are having in-person graduation ceremonies, and welcoming students who are graduating this year, as well as those who finished in 2021 and 2020 who were not able to walk in a regular ceremony. I made it to the ceremony for the graduates, so I could cheer on Sarah, where over 400 of the more 600 total graduate students matriculating got hooded and recognized for their achievement.

NSFA banner at graduation
Four professors wearing full regalia, as well as face masks, posing for a photo in a hallway.
A graduate student and a faculty member, both in full graduation regalia, posing for a photo in a gymnasium.
Faculty in full regalia walking in a UMaine parking lot.
Sarah Holser getting her master's of science hood at the 2022 UMaine graduate graduation.
Sue talking a selfie in the UMaine parking lot in full regalia.
NSFA banner at graduation

This year, many Ishaq Lab members walked across the stage and off into the next step in their life.

A graduate student and a faculty member, both in full graduation regalia, posing for a photo in a gymnasium.

Sarah Hosler, Animal and Veterinary Science Master’s of Science student, who will be defending her thesis this summer and is considering her next career step.

Person in a research facility holding up their arm with a mouse on it. Person is wearing a hairnet, nitrile gloves, surgical mask, and a surgical gown. They are holding their left arm up to the camera to show off a mouse with dark brown fur sitting on their arm. In the background is a metal shelf with containers of research materials.

Johanna Holman, Food Science and Nutrition Master’s of Science student, who will be defending her thesis this summer and returning this fall for a PhD!

A woman in a lab coat wearing a face mask and latex gloves is using a thin yellow swab to spread bacteria on a culture media plate. She is sitting at a biosafety cabinet with the glass door pulled down.

Rebecca French, AVS undergrad who did her Capstone project as part of the squirrel pilot project I ran this past year. Rebecca won a research grant for this work. She is heading to vet school in Long Island!

Morgan Rocks, AVS undergrad who did her Capstone project as part of the squirrel pilot project I ran this past year. She is heading to vet school in the midwest!

Natalie Sullivan, AVS undergrad who did her Capstone project as part of the Cryptosporidium pilot project we are running. She is planning to work for a year before pursuing vet school.

Woman standing on the ocean shoreline.

Jade Chin, AVS undergrad who defended her Honor’s Thesis in 2021 and was awarded High Honors for it, has been in Glasgow, Scotland, for her senior year/first year of veterinary school there.

Myra Arshad

Myra Arshad, an REU student who is graduating from Stoney Brook University. She’s taking a year to work in research before pursuing a graduate degree.

In addition, we had a handful of other undergraduate students who performed their independent research for their Capstone projects in the Ishaq Lab graduate this year.

Six women sitting at a picnic table eating lunch outside, and smiling at the camera.
Some of the 2021/2022 Ishaq Lab members. From the left: Sophia, Isabelle, Rebecca, Morgan, Natalie, and Sue.
Some of the 2021/2022 Ishaq Lab members. From the left: Maria, Sue, Sarah, and Ayodeji.

New perspective paper published on microbial transmission and lobsters.

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A cookie in the shape of a lobster with icing to make it look like a pirate.

A collaborative perspective article was just published in Frontiers in Microbiology, which discusses epizootic shell disease in American lobsters, the role of microbes, and the movement of microbes in an aquatic environment. Because this is a perspective article, it is more of a thought exercise than my other publications, which either report findings or review other published literature, but it was intriguing to think about animal health in the context of rapidly-changing environmental conditions and microbial communities.

I previously presented some of the microbial community data related to the larger project from which this perspective piece came about, and this research team will continue to work on analyzing data from several experiments to develop into a research article later this year.

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Epizootic shell disease is becoming more prevalent on lobsters in the Gulf of Maine as waters get warmer each year.
A steamed lobster on a plate.

This larger, collaborative project on lobster shell disease and warming ocean waters was begun by researchers at the Aquaculture Research Institute: Debbie Bouchard, Heather Hamlin, Jean MacRae, Scarlett Tudor, and later Sarah Turner as a grad student. I was invited to participate in the data analysis aspect two years ago.

At the time, Grace Lee was a rising senior at Bowdoin College, and accepted to my lab for the UMaine REU summer 2020 session, which was canceled. Instead, I hired Grace to perform DNA sequence analysis remotely, by independently learning data analysis following the teaching materials I had generated for my sequencing class.  I invited Joelle Kilchenmann to this piece after a series of conversations about microbes and social equity, because her graduate work in Joshua Stoll’s lab focuses on lobster fishing communities in Maine and understanding the challenges they face.

Ishaq, S.L., Turner, S.M., Tudor, M.S.,  MacRae, J.D., Hamlin, H., Kilchenmann, J., Lee1, G., Bouchard, D. 2022. Many questions remain unanswered about the role of microbial transmission in epizootic shell disease in American lobsters (Homarus americanus). Frontiers in Microbiology 13: 824950.

This was an invited contribution to a special collection: The Role of Dispersal and Transmission in Structuring Microbial Communities

Abstract: Despite decades of research on lobster species’ biology, ecology, and microbiology, there are still unresolved questions about the microbial communities which associate in or on lobsters under healthy or diseased states, microbial acquisition, as well as microbial transmission between lobsters and between lobsters and their environment. There is an untapped opportunity for metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and metabolomics to be added to the existing wealth of knowledge to more precisely track disease transmission, etiology, and host-microbe dynamics. Moreover, we need to gain this knowledge of wild lobster microbiomes before climate change alters environmental and host-microbial communities more than it likely already has, throwing a socioeconomically critical industry into disarray. As with so many animal species, the effects of climate change often manifests as changes in movement, and in this perspective piece, we consider the movement of the American lobster (Homarus americanus), Atlantic ocean currents, and the microorganisms associated with either.

Microbes and Social Equity 2022 speaker series wraps for the season

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The second MSE speak series wrapped up this week, and we had another very successful season! We heard about some incredible research, shared perspectives from other disciplines, and engaged in discussions on soil and food systems, human health, sanitation and water quality, ecological modeling to understand microbiomes better, and using the incredible diversity of the microbial world to better understand the diversity of human life. This year’s series featured 14 talks from researchers, including one that was a group presentation from an author team, and gathered 411 total attendees and 901 total registrations!

If you missed some or all of the talks, you are in luck! Most of the sessions were recorded and are available online through UMaine.

You can find links to the recorded talks here.

If you are eager to continue the conversation, MSE is putting together a summer symposium which will bring us together for a week in July to work on developing research skills. Stayed tuned for more details in the next few weeks!

MSE seminar today: Dr. Liat Shenhav, “It’s about time: ecological and eco-evolutionary dynamics across the scales”

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Today is final installment in the spring 2022 Microbes and Social Equity speaker series! Each week, we have been hearing from a researcher who shared their work and perspective on how microbes are involved in all aspects of our lives, and how those microbes can affect individuals, communities, and ecosystems.

This series ran from Jan 19 – May 4, Wednesdays at 12:00 – 13:00 EST. These are presented over Zoom, and open to researchers, practitioners, students, and the public. Registration is free, and required for each individual seminar you would like to attend. You can find the full speaker list, details, and recordings from previous talks here.

“It’s about time: ecological and eco-evolutionary dynamics across the scales”

Dr. Liat Shenhav, PhD

May 4, 2022, 12:00 – 13:00 EST. Register for this free talk.

Dr. Liat Shenhav. Photo borrowed from LinkedIN.

About the speaker: Dr. Liat Shenhav is an independent research fellow at the Center for Studies in Physics and Biology at the Rockefeller University. Prior to that, Liat received a B.Sc. and. M.Sc. in Mathematics and Statistics from Tel-Aviv University, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of California, Los Angeles. Liat’s research focuses on developing computational methods for studying spatiotemporal dynamics of complex ecosystems and their contribution to human health and disease.

About the talk: Complex microbial communities play an important role across many domains of life, from the female reproductive tract, through the oceans, to the plant rhizosphere. The study of these communities offers great opportunities for biological discovery, due to the ease of their measurement, the ability to perturb them, and their rapidly evolving nature. Yet, their complex composition, dynamic nature, and intricate interactions with multiple other systems, make it difficult to extract robust and reproducible patterns from these ecosystems. To uncover their latent properties, I develop models that combine longitudinal data analysis and statistical learning, and which draw from principles of community ecology, complexity theory and evolution. 

I will briefly present methods for decomposition of microbial dynamics at an ecological scale (Shenhav et al., Nature Methods 2019; Martino & Shenhav et al., Nature Biotechnology). Using these methods we found significant differences in the trajectories of the infant microbiome in the first years of life as a function of early life exposures, namely mode of delivery and breastfeeding. I will then show how incorporating eco-evolutionary considerations allowed us to detect signals of purifying selection across ecosystems. I will demonstrate how interactions between evolution and ecology played a vital role in shaping microbial communities and the standard genetics code (Shenhav & Zeevi, Science 2020).

Inspired by these discoveries, I am currently expanding the scope beyond the microbiome, modeling multi-layered data on human milk composition. I will present results from an ongoing study in which I am building integrative models of nasal, gut and milk microbiota, combined with human milk components, to predict infant respiratory health. I found that the temporal dynamics of microbiota in the first year of life, mediated by milk composition, predict the development of chronic respiratory disease later in childhood. These models, designed to identify robust spatiotemporal patterns, would help us better understand the nature and impact of complex ecosystems like the microbiome and human milk from the time of formation and throughout life.

Institutional profile page.