Principal Investigator
Vanessa Hale MAT, DVM, PhD, hale.502@osu.edu, Twitter: @Hale_Microbes
Vanessa completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Georgia and then taught high school for 3 years and obtained a Masters in Teaching (Secondary) from Western New Mexico University. She got a DVM PhD (Ecology, Evolution, Environmental Biology) at Purdue University studying the gut microbiome and health of wild and captive colobine monkeys. She then did a postdoctoral fellowship in the Mayo Clinic Microbiome Program examining the relationship between the gut microbiome and diseases including colorectal cancer and Clostridioides difficile infection (formerly Clostridium difficile). At Ohio State University (OSU), she draws on her background in ecology and human and animal health to study the microbiome and disease using a One Health approach. Vanessa also serves as a Co-Director of the Microbial Communities Program within OSU’s Infectious Diseases Institute and the Associate Director of the Center of Microbiome Science.
Graduate Students
Zachary Lewis, BA, lewis.3359@buckeyemail.osu.edu
Zach graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, MN, with a biology major and biochemistry minor. While an undergraduate student, Zach researched female sexual dysfunction using a rat model with the Meerts Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Lab. Zach is interested in animal and environmental health and the One Health movement, and has pursued these interests in zoological, veterinary, and research settings. He is pursuing a graduate degree from the College of Veterinary Medicine with the Hale Lab. His work will focus on the Probiome Clinical Trial, which aims to show whether an E. coli probiotic can improve clinical outcomes in dogs undergoing chemotherapy for urothelial carcinoma.
Kilmer Soares, MSc, kilmerzootec2010@hotmail.com
Kilmer completed his bachelor’s degree in animal science at the Federal University of Paraiba, Brazil with an exchange program at The University of Rhode Island. He completed his master’s degree in Animal Sciences from the Federal University of Campina Grande. Currently, Kilmer is completing his Doctorate degree at the Federal University of Paraiba and Ohio State University, where he is developing his thesis. He works with gut microbiome characterization of native Brazilian bee species as well as the exposure effects of antimicrobials on gut microbial ecology.
Tessa Cannon, MSc, RVT, cannon.320@buckeyemail.osu.edu
Tessa received a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology from Ohio Wesleyan University and Master’s degree in Primate Conservation from Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom. She is also a Registered Veterinary Technician and has worked in general practice, emergency medicine, and zoo/sanctuary medicine. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Anthropology, being co-advised by Dr. Scott McGraw and Dr. Vanessa Hale. Her research focuses on the interactions between Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV), diet, and the gut and oral microbiome of sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys) in the Tai Forest, Ivory Coast.
Veterinary Students
Andrew McGlynn, BS, mcglynn.29@buckeyemail.osu.edu
Andrew completed his undergraduate degree in Pre-Veterinary Biology and Ecology, Evolution, Organismal Biology at West Liberty University. Currently, he is a second year veterinary student at The Ohio State University. His work in the laboratory is involved with the Canine Urine Microbiome Project studying the microbiota of healthy canine urine. His primary responsibility is running and collection urinalysis data, as well as obtaining urine protein data using SDS-PAGE.
Undergraduates
Rushil Madan, madan.48@buckeyemail.osu.edu
Rushil is a third-year undergraduate student in the Bachelor of Science in Public Health (BSPH) program at The Ohio State University. His work in the laboratory is involved with the Canine Urine Microbiome Project (CUP) studying the microbiota of healthy canine urine. His primary responsibility is collecting samples and using culture methods and sequencing data to identify trends in healthy canine urine. He is also involved with DNA extraction and PCR to identify bacterial toxin genes in lorikeet intestinal samples.
Angela Scott, scott.2289@buckeyemail.osu.edu
Angela is a fourth year undergraduate student pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences (BSPS) with a minor in Animal Sciences. In the lab she is involved in studying metabolites present in urine of both healthy dogs and dogs with bladder cancer. Her primary responsibility is organizing and analyzing metabolomic data. She also has helped out with DNA extraction and PCR for a couple projects and will be involved in a project investigating the use of probiotics.
Alumni
Hailey Curtis, DVM, curtis.405@buckeyemail.osu.edu
Morgan V. Evans, PhD, evans.2408@osu.edu, twitter: @morgvevans
Current Position: Critical Materials Scientist at Battelle
David Minich, MAS, DVM minich.16@buckeyemail.osu.edu
Current Position: Veterinary Intern at the University of Tennessee
Ryan Mrofchak, MS, mrofchak.5@buckeyemail.osu.edu
Current Position: PhD student in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program at Ohio State University
Christopher Madden, PhD