What's Going on in the Lab
Follow the #E2HD Twitter handle for more updates on Evolutionary and Ecological Approaches to Health and Development, Northwestern’s Biological Anthropology research group.
Winter 2024
Check out Maria Luisa’s article on Probiotic Food Productions
Fall 2023
Graduate student, Tabor Whitney, was featured in Northwestern’s Magazine. Read the article about her research here.
Spring 2023
Katie was the keynote speaker at the 2023 Division of Nutritional Sciences Graduate Student Symposium at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this April!
Fall 2022
Check out this Atlantic article featuring Katie “The year without germs changed kids.”
Check out the ISAPP podcast episode on “An evolutionary perspective on fermented foods” featuring Katie!
Tabor in Field
Amato Lab PhD Student, Tabor, is in the field observing howler monkeys and collecting samples in Veracruz, Mexico!
Spring 2021
Check out this piece written about Katie’s collaborative work with Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research. Along side IPR anthropologist Christopher Kuzawa and IPR psychologist Greg Miller, Katie is exploring the impacts of the gut microbiome can improve health inequities.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Amato lab PhD Student Paula for being awarded a Buffett Global Impacts Fellowship! May 2023
Congratulations to Amato lab PhD Student Tabor for being awarded a Rufford Foundation Small Research Grant and a American Society of Primatologists Conservation Grant! May 2023
Congratulations to Katie for being awarded an NSF grant for her project “Integrative Wildlife Nutrition: From Molecules and Microbes to Macro-Ecology!” SEPTEMBER 2022
Congratulations to Amato lab PhD Student Paula for being awarded a NU Earle Dissertation Grant award! AUGUST 2022
Congratulations to Amato lab PhD Student Anthony for being awarded a Chemistry of Life Processes Predoctoral T32 Training Grant! JULY 2022
Congratulations to Katie for being awarded an NSF grant for her project ” Integrating host-associated microbes into trait-based community ecology frameworks!” July 2022
Congratulations to Katie and Dr. Cynthia Robin for being voted Anthropology mentor of the year awarded by Anthropology graduate students! JUNE, 2021
Congratulations to Amato lab PhD Student Tabor for being named a Society Biology and Health Fellow! MAY 2021
Congratulations to Amato lab undergraduate student Madelyn Moy for being one of three students awarded the Goldwater Scholarship! MAY, 2021
Congratulations to Amato lab undergraduate student Sean Obrochta for being awarded the Fletcher Undergraduate Research Award & Dept of Biological Sciences Margoliash Prize! As his mentor, Katie was awarded the Karl Rosengren Faculty Mentoring Award. MAY, 2021
Amato lab in the news!
Katie’s research on the evolutionary origins and significance of fermented food consumption was featured in The Economist. Katie’s work on the impacts of the microbiome on health and COVID-19 was also featured in the New York Times and The Atlantic.
Summer 2020
Katie was awarded an NSF EAGER award in August 2020: This project aims to understand the extent to which the microbiome of wild black and gold howler monkeys (Alouatta caraya) in Argentina can be considered host traits that help the howler monkeys respond to seasonal environmental change. AUGUST 2020
COVID-19 GRANTS
Katie has been awarded the Manulife CIFAR Population Health & Well-being Grants for their research on the impacts of COVID-19 on the impact of the pandemic on the infant microbiome. Amato lab PhD Candidate Melissa Manus will lead the project.
The Amato Lab at ASP, AUGUST 2019
The Amato lab went to the American Society of Primatologists conference in Madison, Wisconsin! Katie, Liz, Sahana, and Yan all presented a talk!
How do you collect Samples in the Field?
Nicolette awarded Fletcher Undergraduate Research Award, MAY 2019
Nicolette has been awarded the Fletcher Undergraduate Research Award for the best 2018-2019 academic year URG project. She was 1 of 2 undergraduate researchers awarded this honor in the entire university. Congrats to Nicolette! As her mentor, Katie was awarded the Karl Rosengren Faculty Mentoring Award.
Nicolette's research featured in Northwestern press, MARCH 2019
Nicolette’s honors thesis research has been featured in a few Northwestern articles and social media! Read more about her research on how habitat degradataion can impact the gut microbiota of black and white ruffed lemurs in Madagascar. We are so excited to have her research recognized by Northwestern!
Five Second Rule?
Check out this fun BBC Earth piece that asks microbial ecologists whether they would eat food off the floor. Our answer, yes!
New Position, SEPTEMBER 2015
Katie has officially started as Assistant Professor in the Anthropology Department at Northwestern University. She says, “I am very much looking forward to working with my new colleagues and am excited about a variety of collaborations that are currently developing.”
New Book Available, JANUARY 2015
Check out Katie’s chapter on the gut microbiota in this new howler monkey volume. Lots of other interesting chapters as well!
Gut Check: Free online course!
Katie is co-instructing an online course about gut microbes this fall. Check it out!