We study the ecology and evolution of microbial communities, with particular interest in the development of novel methods for the characterization and analysis of natural communities, and the role of adaptation in shaping patterns of biodiversity and ecological characteristics such as resilience to invasion.
We are a fundamentally cross-disciplinary lab, drawing from a broad range of traditional scientific fields including:
- Microbiology
- Population Genetics
- Statistics
- Ecology
- Computer Science
- Physics
The advent of high-throughput biological assays, and the “big data” they produce, has revolutionized biological inquiry. But data in the absence of understanding is just noise.
We are improving the characterization of microbial communities by modeling and correcting errors and artefacts in our assays. We are developing new biomarkers of disease by carefully combining clinical outcomes with measurements of the human microbiome. We are elucidating the role of rapid adaptation in the ecology of microbial communities by connecting theory and experiment.
You can contact us by emailing Dr. Callahan at bcallah@ncsu.edu.