People

Dr. Kevin D. Kohl - Principal Investigator

Curriculum Vitae - Updated Feb 2024
Dr. Kohl's GoogleScholar Page

Kevin is an “animal-physiologist-at-heart”, who uses tools of the microbiome field to understand how these communities impact the physiology, ecology, and evolution of animal hosts. Kevin earned his bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Ecology from University of Wisconsin-Madison training with Dr. William Karasov studying the nutritional ecology of nestling songbirds. Next, Kevin completed his PhD in Biology from the University of Utah with Dr. Denise Dearing, where he studied wild herbivorous rodents, and discovered that their gut microbes allow them to consume toxic plants. He then spent a year in Argentina as an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow, studying physiological and microbial adaptations to herbivory in a unique clade of Andean lizards, and additional postdoc training with at Vanderbilt University Dr. Seth Bordenstein, where he investigated the eco-evolutionary pattern known as “phylosymbiosis”. Kevin started as an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh in 2017, and has been working to develop various systems to enhance our understanding of the role of host-microbe interactions in animal physiology, ecology, and evolution.

Dr. Emily Hardison - Postdoctoral Researcher

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GoogleScholar Page

Emily is an NSF-funded Postdoctoral Research Fellow whose research interests include ecological physiology, host-microbe interactions, and conservation biology. She is broadly interested in how environmental changes impact the physiology and behavior of aquatic animals. In the Kohl lab, she is researching how host-microbe interactions in larval amphibians shape their physiological responses to environmental change. In her PhD at UC Santa Barbara, she studied how nutrition impacts thermal plasticity and thermal tolerance in marine fish.

Dr. Noah Leith- Postdoctoral Researcher

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GoogleScholar Page

Noah is a postdoctoral fellow who examines how changing climates affect animal communication, social behavior, and biodiversity. In the Kohl lab, he is researching how heatwaves affect disease dynamics in freshwater fish populations, and how fish sociality and reproductive behavior mediate these responses to multiple environmental stressors. During his PhD at Saint Louis University, he studied how climate shapes the evolution of complex sexual signals in arthropods, and how sexual traits can help or hinder arthropod persistence in changing climates.

Elizabeth Rudzki - Graduate Student

Elizabeth’s research interests encompass host-pathogen interactions, microbiology, immunology, and developmental biology. Elizabeth is using a diversity of study systems to understand the relative contributions of genetics and the environment in structuring the composition of the gut microbiome, especially in early life. Prior to graduate school, Elizabeth worked as a research specialist at the University of Pittsburgh in Dr. Jon Boyle’s lab, studying Toxoplasma gondii and how it crosses the placental barrier during congenital infection. As an undergraduate at Edinboro University, Elizabeth researched the presence of angiogenic inhibitors in the hemolymph of corn furrow spiders, as well as assisted in a large-scale study of big game migration in Botswana.

Karen Peralta Martínez - Graduate Student

Karen is interested in host-microbe interactions, microbiology, genetics, and cellular biology. In the lab, Karen is studying how, under different diet strategies, the activity of the gut microbiota aids hosts with rapid physiological adaptations. She is excited to explore this question using a combination of metagenomics, cellular and molecular techniques. Before moving to Pitt, she worked as a laboratory technician under the mentorship of Dr. Clement Chow in the department of Human Genetics at the University of Utah. A central research focus of her job was to identify the impact of genetic variation on the outcome of N-Glycanase 1 (NGLY1) deficiency, a rare, autosomal recessive disease. As an undergraduate at Bucknell University, she studied chloroplast relocation in ferns grown in the dark and supplemented with cytokinin.

Jess Diaz - Graduate Student

Jess is interested in exploring the connections between gut microbiome and host health in the context of changing environments. She is specifically interested in applying gut microbiome research to inform animal management and conservation practices. In the Kohl lab, her research focuses on how changes in gut microbial composition associated with artificial rearing practices in Whooping Cranes could potentially lead to adverse health outcomes. Prior to graduate school, Jess was a lab manager at the University of California San Diego where she studied the influence of captivity on the deer mouse gut microbiome. As an undergraduate at Harvard University, she researched the effects of human milk oligosaccharide diversity on gut microbial structure and metabolic function.

José Goyco-Blas - Lab Manager

José has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science with an emphasis in Environmental Chemistry from the University of Puerto Rico in Aguadilla. He also earned a master’s degree from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, where he specialized in Environmental Law and Regulation. He is interested in how environmental effects can impact a species, changed its microbiome and physiological components. His most recent experience was working as a field and laboratory technician in CECIA Department at the InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico. His focus was the identification of E. coli, Giardia and Salmonella in the NON-PRASA water systems in Patillas, Puerto Rico and offering seminars to the community. Jose also worked in diverse research within the fields of ecology, biology, and chemistry.

Robin Chambers- Research Program Coordinator

Robin is responsible for the overall management and coordination of research programs and personnel for the Kohl Lab. She has an Associates Degree in Veterinary Technology from Tri-County Technical College and a Bachelors Degree in Biological Science from the University of Pittsburgh. She also has a diverse background ranging from her work as a Lab Manager, to work as a Veterinary Technician, to over a decade as a Zoo Keeper working with a wide range of animals. This experience gives her an advanced knowledge of and interest in Animal Behavior.