Aquatic environments contain a wealth of hidden host-pathogen interactions that can teach us about the evolution of eukaryotic immunity. To uncover some of these interactions, Katherine Deets is studying antiviral responses in ciliates – single-celled eukaryotes that play an important role in moving nutrients throughout aquatic ecosystems. She is also developing a new model system to determine how these ciliates might concentrate and transmit viruses or other pathological microbes between fish.
Many tend to think of evolution as an event that occurred too long ago to comprehend. But, HHMI Investigator Nels Elde and his lab study how hosts evolve resistance to pathogens – sometimes over vastly different stretches of time. The group’s insights also shed light on how pathogens adapt, including viruses that impact human health.