BEES Department Graduate Seminar guest speaker Dr. Heather Skeen, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Princeton University, will discuss “Temporal patterns and phylogenetics perspectives of avian microbiota.”
Abstract:
Understanding how hosts shape and respond to their microbiota is essential for understanding the ecological and evolutionary processes governing vertebrate health and adaptation. Dr. Skeen will present recent work examining how birds’ environments and life histories influence the microbial community they carry, highlighting the spatio temporal dynamics of Nearctic–Neotropical migratory bird microbiota. To complement these insights, she will outline Avian Ig-SEQ, a bird-specific approach for examining fine-scale, immunomodulated host-bacteria interactions. By integrating these perspectives, this talk will outline a framework for advancing avian microbiome research toward a more predictive and immunologically informed science.
Bio:
Heather Skeen is currently the EEB Departmental Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Princeton University. She received her Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Chicago. Her research focuses on identifying the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms shaping the relationship between migratory birds and their microbial symbionts.