Host-microbe interactions are central to biology and play important roles in infection, immunity, development, metabolism, and disease. These interactions can take many forms, from bacterial pathogens invading host tissues to gut microbial communities influencing human health to immune responses shaping viral infection dynamics.

Our lab is broadly interested in understanding how host-associated microbes interact with their environments and how these dynamic relationships influence host behavior, physiology, and disease outcomes. By studying host-microbe systems as evolving ecological and molecular networks, we aim to identify general principles that explain how microbes affect their hosts and how hosts respond to microbial challenges.

Tartar, J.L., Valls, A., Totev, M., Mendoza, M.B., Lopez, J.V., Smith, R.P. (2026). Extending sleep improves sleep and stress measures with limited microbiome shift. Journal of Sleep Research. e70321

Krausfeldt, L.E.,  Samuel, P.,  Smith, R.P.,  Urakawa, H., Rosen, B.H., Colwell, R.C.,  Lopez, J.V. (2024) .Transcriptional profiles of Microcystis during a cyanobacterial bloom in an in situ mesocosm. Microbiology Spectrum. e01369-24.

Krausfeldt, L.E.,  Smith, R.P.,  Rosen, B., Shmakova, E., Urakawa, H.,  Mazzei, V.,  Karwacki, E.,  Dadlani, M., Lopez. J.V. (2024). Microbial biodiversity is linked to the succession and dominance of bloom-forming cyanobacteria. mSystems. e00709-23.

Smith, RP., Easson, C., Lyle, S.M., Kapoor, R., Donnelly, C.P., Davidson, E.J., Parikh, E., Lopez, JV., and Tartar, JL. (2019) Gut microbiome diversity is associated with sleep physiology in humans. PloS one 14, no. 10: e0222394.

Bracho, OR., Manchery, C., Haskell, E.C., Blanar, C.A., and Smith, R.P. (2016) Circumvention of learning increases intoxication efficacy of nematicidal engineered bacteria." ACS Synthetic Biology 5, no. 3: 241-249.