People

Dr. Colleen M. Cavanaugh is the Edward C. Jeffrey Professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and co-founder of the Microbial Sciences Initiative at Harvard University. Her research interests focus on microbial symbiosis...

Deciphering the genetic and physiological interactions between protists and their associated bacterial communities There is a growing appreciation for using protists (single-cell eukaryotes) as bioindicators for monitoring ecosystem health. Several...

Caves, Crustaceans, and Chemosynthetic Symbioses: An Evolutionary Study of Extreme Groundwater Systems My research focuses on microbial and invertebrate community structure formation and evolution in extreme underwater caves. In dark anchialine caves...

My research program focuses on understanding drivers and processes of biodiversification. I'm especially interested in the way symbiotic interactions affect distribution, ecology and evolution of invertebrates. I mainly use diverse mollusk groups (clams...

Gut microbiota of wild bird species The guts of vertebrate animals are unique environments and cultivate distinct microbial communities. Research has shown that host species from wild animals to humans rely on microbiomes for crucial components of their...

Microbial Community Ecology in the Human Mouth We share our bodies with a lot of bacteria. From both cellular and genetic perspectives, “our” bodies are more bacterial than human. My research focuses on human-associated bacterial communities from an...