The news finally came through this past week that my first Alaska INBRE Pilot grant was awarded. The goal of the proposed research is to develop a general evolutionary theory to understand host-symbiont interactions. This is an important missing component of current investigations of the human microbiome and its interpretation in regard to human health. In terms of human pathogens, we may better understand the conditions for disease emergence as well as those that favor increases and decreases in disease virulence.
