Possible Rotation Projects:
- Comparative genomic approaches to find evolutionary signatures of arms races
- Experimental approaches to determine how adaptation has changed host-microbe molecular interactions
Education & Training
- B.A. Biology and Biochemistry, Oberlin College, 2007
- B.A. Biology and Biochemistry, Oberlin College, 2007
Recent Publications
Research Interests
The Levin lab studies the evolution of infectious diseases, seeking to understand how evolutionary “arms races” between hosts and pathogens dynamically shape the biology of immunity and pathogenesis. We approach these questions using a combination of high-throughput genetics, microbiology, and evolutionary genomics, focusing on the opportunistic pathogen Legionella pneumophila and its natural hosts, environmental amoebae.
Through this work, we are excited to discover general principles for how bacteria and hosts drive each others’ evolution.
OUR QUESTIONS INCLUDE:
How do new pathogens emerge from nature?
- What sorts of host-microbe or microbe-microbe interactions in the environment select for these new pathogens?
How do new mechanisms of immunity and pathogenesis evolve?
- What were the origins of modern genes that mediate host-microbe interactions?
- What are the molecular mechanisms of their interactions?
- And how do these mechanisms change over time?
