Current lab members

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Clay Cressler
Associate Professor
ccressler2@unl.edu

Interested in disease ecology and evolution, consumer-resource interactions, life history evolution, feedbacks between individual-level and population-level processes as a central challenge in biology, and connecting theory and data to test biological hypotheses. 
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Alaina Pfenning
Ph.D. student (started 08/2017)
Studying the circadian rhythm of Daphnia traits that mediate infection (feeding rate, immunity), linking circadian rhythm to variation in individual- and population-level disease processes in both lab and natural Daphnia populations.

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David Nguyen
NSF GRFP student (started 08/2018); also pursuing a Masters in Statistics
Extending statistical methods developed for clinical trials to develop improved methods for trend detection in ecological data

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Lexi Beagle
Ph.D. student (started 08/2020)
Linking within-host and between-host scales to understand how resources and coinfection shape the dynamics of Hantavirus infection in individual voles and vole populations

Former lab members

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Jessica Hite
Former: NIH Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Now: Assistant Professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin
Homepage
Studied the epidemiological and evolutionary consequences of ecological interactions, focusing on consumer-resource interactions and foraging behavior.
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Reilly Cooper
Former: Ph.D. student (graduated 08/2021)
Now: Microbial ecologist at Upward Farms
Homepage
Worked on characterizing the functional repertoire of microbes within the Daphnia magna microbiota, linking function to host fitness, and tracking how microbes are transmitted across generations.
Kristina Amato, UCARE (2020-2021)
Allyson Schmitz, UCARE (2020-2021)
Hayden Barrows, Honors (2020-2021; Medical school at the University of Colorado)
Freddy Gonzalez, UCARE (2019-2021; Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program at the University of Chicago)
Joe Levey, UCARE (2020)
Lauren Reiman, UCARE (2018-2019; Genetic Counseling MS program)
Rachel Vetter, UCARE, Honors (2018-2018; Medical school at the University of Nebraska Medical Center)
Sarah Tjards, UCARE (2017-2019; Medical school at the University of Nebraska Medical Center)
Jessica Rischling, INBRE Scholar (2017-2019; Optometry school at the Southern College of Optometry)
Janna Vavra, Lab Manager (2015-2018; Physical Therapy school at the University of Nebraska Medical Center)
Kaitlyn Stava, UCARE (2016-2017; Physician's Assistant school at the University of Nebraska Medical Center)

Interested in joining the lab?

Graduate Students

The Cressler lab studies the ecology and evolution of infectious disease using a combination of experimental and theoretical approaches. If you are interested in joining the lab, you will have the opportunity to develop a research program that is aligned with your own interests and expertise, tapping into the great set of resources available here at UNL to develop into dynamic, integrative scientists. If that sounds like something that interests you, drop me a line at ccressler2@unl.edu or @ClayCressler. 
 
Current research in the lab uses the Daphnia as a model system to study a number of questions, including:
  • What are the ecological consequences of host manipulation by parasites?
  • How do ecological factors like host diet and temperature influence the evolution of parasite virulence?
  • What is the role of the host microbiome in mediating host-parasite specificity?
  • How does the gut microbiome individual life history and fitness, and how do those fitness effects interact with transmission to determine the effects of the microbiome on host population dynamics?
This research employs experiments at the individual, population, and community levels, in both the lab and field. We also develop mechanistic mathematical models to help us understand the ecological and evolutionary processes operating in this system. The Daphnia system is appropriate for asking any number of interesting questions in disease ecology and evolution; prospective students should not feel constrained by the research topics listed above.
 
We also study within-host and between-host infection processes by developing novel mathematical models. Of particular interest are questions relating to the interaction between host resources, the immune response, and parasites, such as:
  • How does host resource availability influence whether the immune response is directed towards parasite killing (“resistance”) versus damage limitation (“tolerance”)?
  • Are between-host dynamics different when parasites are limited more by within-host resource availability than by the immune system?
  • What determines how long an infection will last, and its health consequences for the host?
  • When does the interaction between within-host processes (e.g., the immune response) and between-host processes (e.g., transmission) give rise to self-reinforcing feedbacks, such as the “negative spiral” between malnutrition and infection?
Although this work is primarily focused on theory, we collaborate with empiricists to design experiments that provide data needed to both parameterize these models and to test their predictions. The ability to rigorously challenge theory with data is an essential skill for a modern disease ecologist.
 
If your interests lie outside the broad area of disease ecology and evolution, I would still be interested in hearing from you. Ongoing research projects in the lab touch on population ecology, life history evolution, consumer-resource interactions, and phylogenetic comparative methods, to name a few.
 
The School of Biological Sciences at the University of Nebraska has a large, collaborative group of faculty and grad students working in ecology, evolution, and behavior (see the faculty listing). There are also a number of faculty in the math department that work in the area of mathematical biology (Drs. Deng, Jin, Ledder, and Rebarber). 
 
Further information about the application process, the department, the University, and life in Lincoln can be found here.