Next Club EvMeds:
Dr. Pamela Yeh and Dr. Sada Boyd
Thursday, May 2
12:00 PM EST
Examining the evolution and interaction of antibiotic-resistance and copper-resistance in bacteria
Summary
Interactions between antibiotic-resistant strains and copper have only been investigated in a limited capacity. We will discuss the evolution and interaction of antibiotic and copper resistance in E. coli. Specifically, we will focus on how interactions with copper affect antibiotic resistance, using long-term evolution and whole-genome re-sequencing experiments. Additionally, we will briefly discuss the effects of copper and copper-dependent compounds on multi-drug-resistant E. coli.
Biographies
Dr. Sada Boyd-Vorsah earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology from Bennett College of Women in North Carolina. She later received her PhD in Applied Science and Technology with a concentration in Biosciences from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University under the supervision of Dr. Joseph Graves Jr. Her PhD dissertation focused on the evolution of metal resistance in bacteria. Previously, Dr. Boyd-Vorsah completed a postdoc in Dr. Pamela Yeh’s lab at UCLA in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. In the Yeh lab, she focused on microbial evolution with specific interests in understanding multiple stressor interactions in bacteria. Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher in the Dr. Graeme Conn lab at Emory University studying Aminoglycoside resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Pamela is an evolutionary biologist and studies how human activities affect the evolution of species, focusing on the evolution of birds in urban environments and the evolution of drug-resistant bacteria in urban and agricultural areas. She received her BA in Biology from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges, her PhD in Evolutionary Biology from University of California at San Diego, and conducted post-doctoral work in the Center for Genomics Research at Harvard University and the Systems Biology Department at Harvard Medical School. She has been at UCLA since 2013. Pamela is also an External Faculty at Santa Fe Institute.
Register Here to Attend Dr. Pamela Yeh & Dr. Sada Boyd’s Talk
Dr. Mary Shenk and Makenna Lenover
Tuesday, May 14
12:00 PM EST
An Evolutionary Medicine Approach to Lifestyle Related Factors and Causes of Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Summary
Makenna’s talk will take an evolutionary medicine perspective in understanding irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a chronic digestive condition that has yet to be explored through this framework except in her own work. She will synthesize the current clinical literature from an evolutionary mismatch lens, focusing on the key lifestyle changes that are associated with IBS and how they are linked with the physiological systems that are likely being disrupted in its etiology. She will then dive into the limitations of clinical data collection and other methods commonly used to study IBS, and the shortcomings of interpreting the existing data within the mismatch framework alone. She will share her preliminary dissertation work which attempts to address key limitations and improve our understanding of the IBS causal cascade.
Biographies
Makenna B. Lenover is a PhD candidate in the Penn State Department of Anthropology working with Dr. Mary Shenk. Makenna holds an MPH from the Penn State College of Medicine. She is interested in irritable bowel syndrome and how lifestyle and culture contribute to chronic disease, investigated via quantitative and qualitative survey design methods.
Mary K. Shenk is an Associate Professor of Anthropology, Demography, and Asian Studies at Penn State. She is interested in evolutionary approaches to human behavior, demography, and health.
