Alumni and Past Researchers
Dr. Elizabeth Mallott
Liz was a post-doc at the Amato lab. Her research focused on behavioral, physiological, developmental, and evolutionary changes related to faunivory in nonhuman and human primates.
She is broadly interested in the evolution of human microbiomes, and how plasticity in the microbiome in humans and other primates influences host metabolism, health, and fitness.
Dr. Melissa Manus
Melissa was a PhD student in the lab from 2018-2022. Her dissertation explored associations between infants’ social environments and the development of the skin and gut microbiomes. This work spanned populations living in Mexico, the Philippines, and the USA. As a current postdoctoral fellow in the THRiVE Discovery Lab at the University of Manitoba, Melissa is testing the microbiome’s role in mediating the relationship between early life environments and infant health outcomes.
Sahana Kuthyar
Sahana managed the Amato lab from 2018-2020. She studied the howler monkey gut microbiome and developed field sampling methods for infant skin microbiome. Sahana is now a Ph.D. student at the Reese lab at UCSD. She is interested in how animal-associated microbial contributions are balanced between host energy use and immune function and how these trade-offs change under infection in domestic animals
Yan Zeng
Yan was a visiting Ph.D. student from 2017 through 2019. Yan received her Ph.D. from Preventative Veterinary Medicine from Sichuan Agricultural University in Chengdu, China in 2019. Yan’s research focuses on the dynamics between mutualistic gut microbial communities and their hosts. She is particularly interested in understanding the composition and diversity of the gastrointestinal tract in herbivorous animals, and my current research is focused on the gut microbiome of wildlife. Yan is now teaching and conducting research at Sichuan Agricultural University.
More alumni and interns
- Imogene Asa, NU undergraduate student
- Peter Finnegan, NU undergraduate student
- Jeffrey Frankel, NU undergraduate student
- Honors thesis: “Going with your Gut: How a study in wild and captive nonhuman primates elucidates the evolution of the human gut microbiome.”
- Nicolette McManus, NU undergraduate student
- Honors Thesis: “Black and White Ruffed Lemur’s: a Study on Habitat Degradation and Human Development’s Impact on the Gastrointestinal Microbiota and Specie’s Health“
- Tara Mittelberg, NU undergraduate student
- Sean Obrochta, NU undergraduate
- Honors Thesis: “Microbiome Analysis of Resident and Migratory Urban Canada Geese”
- Ella Rubenstein, NU undergraduate
- Citlayi Villasenor, IBiS
Interns:
- Amelia Baldwin, Oakton Community College
- Sung Joo Cho, Oakton Community College
- Jay Dugar, Oak Park HS, CA
- Amanda Gomez, National Summer Undergraduate Research Program (NSURP)
- Shayla Johnson, National Summer Undergraduate Research Program (NSURP)
- Lauren Kane, Feinberg MPH Program
- Alyssa Kobus, Evanston Township HS, IL.
- Brandy Parker, Post-Bacc
- Priyanka Pradhan, Feinberg Medical School