Macrobes

We are!

The Macrobe + microbe interaction lab in the Department of Biology at the Pennsylvania State University. We use a combination of wet lab and computational approaches to understand what determines microbiome composition within a host, and how the relationship between the host and the microbiome affects host health and evolution.

Emily Davenport
Assistant Professor
Department of Biology
Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and Institute for Computational and Data Sciences

Office: 305 Wartik Laboratory, Penn State University

Research Professors

Robert Nichols
Assistant Research Professor [June 2023 - ]
USDA NIFA Postdoctoral Fellow [January 2020 - June 2023]
Department of Biology

Office: 306 Wartik Laboratory, Penn State University

Davenport Lab publications:
- The relationship between the gut microbiome and host gene expression: a review. Human Genetics
- Clade-specific long-read sequencing increases the accuracy and specificity of the gyrB phylogenetic marker gene. mSystems

Graduate Students

Erica Ryu
PhD Student [February 2020 - ]
Department of Biology

Office: 306 Wartik Laboratory, Penn State University
Awarded the Dr. John Randall Shuman Troxell Memorial Scholarship in Biology (2022)
Awarded the J. Ben and Helen D. Memorial Fund Award (2022)
NSF GRFP Honorable Mention (2021)
NIH T32 CBIOS Training Grant Appointee (2021- 2022)

Davenport Lab publications:
- Host genetic determinants of the microbiome across animals: From Caenorhabditis elegans to cattle. Annual Review of Animal Biosciences
- Microbiome: Taming the beasts inside. eLife
- Nepali oral microbiomes reflect a gradient of lifestyles from traditional to industrialized. Microbiome

Polina Tikhonova
PhD Student [March 2022 - ]
Bioinformatics and Genomics Interdisciplinary Program

Office: 306 Wartik Laboratory, Penn State University
NIH TL1 Translational Research Training Program Appointee (2024- 2025)

Naomi Huntley
PhD Student [September 2022 - ]
Department of Biology

Office: 306 Wartik Laboratory, Penn State University
Awarded the Microbiome Center Data Analysis Leadership Fund (2022)

Davenport Lab publications:
- Analysis of metagenomic data. Nature Reviews Methods Primers

Hanh Tran
PhD Student [January 2024 - ]
Technician [June 2022 - August 2023]

Office: 306 Wartik Laboratory, Penn State University
NIH T32 EGR Training Grant Appointee (2024 - 2026)

Staff

Bethany Swencki-Underwood
Technician (joint with Jordan Bisanz) [July 2024 - ]
Departments of Biology and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Lab: 302 Wartik Laboratory, Penn State University

Undergraduates

Maria Lovallo
Undergraduate Researcher [August 2022 - ]
Major: Microbiology, Minor: Plant Pathology

Office: 306 Wartik Laboratory, Penn State University

Patricia Brocious
Undergraduate Researcher [August 2023 - ]
Schreyer Honors College
Major: Biology

Office: 306 Wartik Laboratory, Penn State University
Eberly Undergraduate Research Support Awardee

Jack Stephenson
Undergraduate Researcher [December 2023 - ]
Major: Biology
Office: 306 Wartik Laboratory, Penn State University

Luscinia Quance
Undergraduate Researcher [January 2024 - ]
Shreyer Honors College
Major: Biology
Office: 306 Wartik Laboratory, Penn State University

Alumni

Postdocs

Nur Shahir
Postdoctoral Fellow [June 2020 - July 2022]
Department of Biology
Currently a Lead Scientist at Booz Allen Hamilton

Staff

Sean O’Rourke
Undergraduate Researcher [January 2021 - May 2021]
Technician [June 2021 - ]
Major: Biology - Neuroscience option
Currently a Staff Associate at Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Xavier Mack
Technician [July 2023 - June 2024 ]
Currently a Technician at Pennsylvania State University

Graduate Students

Nicholas Locatelli
PhD Student (co-advised with Iliana Baums) [September 2022 - July 2024]
Currently: Postdoc at Cornell University

NIH T32 CBIOS Training Grant Appointee
Awarded the Dr. John Randall Shuman Troxell Memorial Scholarship in Biology (2023)

Undergrads

Yiyan Zhang
Undergraduate Researcher [January 2021 - July 2021]
Majors: Statistics - Biostatistics, Mathematics - System Analysis
Currently in the Computational Biology PhD program at UNC

Kyrah Williams Undergraduate Researcher [May 2021 - August 2021]
Major: Biology - Genetics

Jovial Joseph
Undergraduate Researcher [January 2021 - May 2022]
Major: Accelerated PreMedical-Medical Program
Eberly Undergraduate Research Support Awardee

Mansi Chandra Undergraduate Researcher [June 2022 - ]
Juniata College, Major: Bioinformatics

Shanisa McGuire Undergraduate Researcher [June 2022 - ]
Major: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biology

Aureo Zanon Undergraduate Researcher [July 2021 - May 2023]
Major: Biology and Statistics; Minor: Math
Erickson Discovery Grant Awardee 2022
Currently in the Bioinformatics PhD program at University of Illinois Chicago

Shivani Kumar
Undergraduate Researcher [January 2023 - August 2023]
Major: Biology, Minor: Computer Science

Meera Gupta Undergraduate Researcher [October 2021 - December 2023]
Major: Accelerated Premedical-Medical Program

Eberly Undergraduate Research Support Awardee 2022

Evan Lloyd
Undergraduate Researcher [January 2023 - December 2023 ]
Major: Biology

Steven Kadavil
Undergraduate Researcher [January 2023 - May 2023]
Major: Computer Science

Visitors

Bineyam Taye
Sabbatical visitor [January 2023 - December 2023]
Associate Professor of Biology and Global Public & Environmental Health
Colgate University