Symbiotic Relationships with Bacteria and Bugs

Many insects are known to harbor mutualistic bacterial symbionts that play important roles in host nutrition and defense.

Discovering Novel Pathogens: The Fungus Among Us

When outbreaks of emerging diseases impact wildlife species or humanity, we are often caught completely unawares by never-before-discovered pathogens.

From City Streets to Mountain Peaks: Tracking biodiversity and gene flow of Utah’s wildflower and arthropods

Environmental gradients, such as changes in altitude, temperature, or disturbance, provide natural laboratories to study how life adapts to shifting conditions.

Fitness of Bacterial Plant Pathogens across Environmental Stresses

Plants are constantly exposed to a wide range of microbial pathogens, many of which can cause disease when environmental conditions favor infection.

Temporal Dynamics of Non-structural Carbohydrates (NSCs)

Non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs) are primary metabolites produced during photosynthesis that play crucial roles in plant function.

Transmission Dynamics of Infectious Diseases

In this stream, students will work to understand how transmission dynamics of infectious diseases impact control and elimination efforts; develop and apply mathematical and statistical methods to quantify infectious disease spread; and inform decision support for public health and healthcare response to outbreak.

DNA, Mutations, Cancer and Astrobiology

DNA provides the blueprint for life but the information is constantly eroding due to chemical damage. Evolution provided molecular systems to restore information by repairing chemically damaged DNA.

Exploring Living Dinosaurs

Our research aims at understanding the immense diversity of modern birds, while using this knowledge in applied and interdisciplinary contexts.

Microalgae in the Great Salt Lake

Fungal Symbiosis & Diversity