The Cressler Lab
University of Nebraska

Photo illustration: Gabor Racz, Katie Black & Scott Schrage

Our lab explores the dynamic interactions between hosts and microbes, including mutualistic, commenal, and pathogenic microbes. A key theme in our research is understanding how variability in host traits, such as susceptibility, infection duration, or behavior, is manifested out of underlying physiological and immunological processes, and how that variability affects the transmission and evolution of pathogens. We take an interdisciplinary approach to these questions, integrating mathematical models, lab and field experiments, and phylogenetic methods. Although Daphnia are the lab's primary study system, we collaborate broadly, working in a wide variety of host-parasite systems, including Hantavirus in bank voles, Trichuris in rewilded lab mice, chronic wasting disease in elk, and Mycoplasma in house finches. Our lab seeks to uncover the underlying mechanisms that govern disease dynamics and to apply this knowledge to better understand public health challenges, such as zoonotic diseases and the impacts of antibiotic resistance.