Drs. Audra Crouch and Andrew McGlynn presented posters at the Collaborating for the Advancement of Interdisciplinary Research in Benign Urology (CAIRIBU) Conference in Madison, Wisconsin.

Audra’s poster: Establishing in vivo and in vitro platforms to investigate host-microbe-chemical interactions in relation to bladder health.

Andrew’s poster: Defining the healthy canine urobiome: How does urinary microbiota vary over time and compare to other body sites?

Bridging Human and Animal Health: Jaleea Gamble’s Microbiome Research 

Article: https://share.google/qKhMYbXGxIj95YfbV

Great poster presentations by Andrew McGlynn, Jaleea Gamble, Lily Chapman, and Hana Machisen,  at the College of Veterinary Medicine Research Day! So proud of all of you and your research!

Extra shout out to Andrew who won a Distinguished Poster Award and $500!!

Andrew McGlynn: How variable is the urinary microbiota of healthy dogs over time?

Jaleea Gamble: Tipping the Scales: The effect of pollutant Benzo[a]pyrene exposure on mouse weight

Lily Chapman: Primates, pathogens, and paraites: Human enteric viruese identified in wild black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varacia variegata) in Madagascar

Hana Machisen: Pollution to Pee: Do microbes metabolize B[a]P? Investigating microbial metabolism of benzo[a]pyrene in relation to bladder cancer

Congrats Zach Lewis and team on your recent publication in Microbiome!

Evaluating urine volume and host depletion methods to enable genome-resolved metagenomics of the urobiome

(Video abstract available here.)

Congratulations Dr. Andrea Aplasca and team on your recent publication demonstrating that environment (tank) and body weight are linked to skin microbiome composition in Eastern hellbenders under human care.  This study also identified a microbe Parcubacteria, differentially associated with low weight hellbenders. Further investigation of this bacteria may help determine why low weight hellbenders often fail to thrive in captive rearing conditions.

After a whirlwind of research this summer, Hana Machisen and Madison Griffin presented posters at 2 different conferences. Way to go for a great summer of research!

Veterinary student Hana presented her poster “Pollution to pee: Do microbes metabolize B[a]P? Investigating microbial metabolism of benzo[a]pyrene in relation to bladder cancer” at the National Veterinary Scholars Symposium in Spokane, WA (August 2025).

Undergraduate Madison presented her poster “Carcinogens and the bladder: Gut and urine E. coli grow in the presence of Benzo[a]pyrene” at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute Student Poster Day (July 2025).

The Hale Lab celebrated our (nearly) successful escape from the Speakeasy escape room with tacos galore.

Welcome Hana Machisen and Lily Chapman who are Veterinary Summer Scholars who have joined the Hale Lab research team! Hana will be doing research on chemical-microbe-host interactions associated with bladder cancer, and Lily will be studying parasites and gastrointestinal pathogens in black and white lemurs in Madagascar.

Hana (Left), Lily (Right)

Check out Kilmer’s cool new article in Microbiology Spectrum highlighting how host phylogeny, hybridization, and honey bee ecology have shaped the gut microbiota of the Africanized honey bee, which is a hybrid derived from a cross between European and African honeybees.

Are you my mother? When host genetics and gut microbiota tell different phylogenetic stories in the Africanized honey bee hybrid (Apis mellifera scutellata × sspp.)

Bravo to all involved!