Team | Keiser Lab

PrincipAL Investigator: Nick Keiser

622 Carr Hall

Department of Biology

University of Florida

Gainesville, FL 32611

Email: ckeiser [at] ufl [dot] edu

Nick is a behavioral ecologist that studies infectious diseases. In general, he is interested in spiders, flies, and their parasites, though his students have taken the lab's research in countless more directions. He also spends much time watching monster movies, reading sword & sorcery paperbacks, juggling, and listening to heavy metal.

Steven Cassidy

PhD Candidate

stevencassidy [at] ufl.edu

Steven is interested in how behavior can influence species interactions. He completed his B.S. in Ecology and Evolution at the University of Pittsburgh studying plant ecology. As an undergrad, Steven studied mutualism disruption in understory plants, and then worked as a lab technician studying how herbivory impacts the evolution of the plant root microbiome. He is currently studying the the causes and consequences of polydomy in the African social spider Stegodyphus dumicola.

Eric Trotman

PhD Student

email: eric.trotman [at] ufl.edu

Eric is a recent graduate from the University of Florida, where he earned his B.S. in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. During undergrad, through the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program, he studied how habitat composition affects the provisioning rate of the Southeastern American kestrel. Eric also partnered with the San Diego Zoo Recovery Ecology team on their reintroduction study of the mountain yellow-legged frog, focusing on how early life history events may affect survival in the wild. During his Ph.D., Eric plans to study how multi-host parasites affect the behavior of intermediate hosts using a One Health framework.

Katie Van Havel

MSc Student

email: kathryn.vanhavel [at] ufl.edu

Katie received her undergraduate degree from the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), where she majored in biology and received her commission to the United States Air Force as an Intelligence officer. She is on scholarship to receive her masters degree to support a future teaching role at USAFA. Katie's research will focus on wolf spiders behavioral responses to biotic and abiotic stressors. She is an avid bookworm and flipped over too many rocks looking for bugs as a kid.

Abigail Pope

Undergraduate researcher working on the behavioral and environmental aspects of arthropod vectors of disease.

Sloane Murphy

Undergraduate researcher interested in vector borne diseases and medical geography.

Kamili Henry

Undergraduate researcher working with the SPDR Collection and the effects of fungal infection on spider behavior.

Devin Travers

Undergraduate researcher interested in spider behavior and ecology.

LAB ALUMNI

Emily Durkin, PhD

Postdoc 2019-2021

Assistant Professor of Parasitology

University of Tampa

Website

Allison Roth, PhD

Postdoc 2019-2020

University of Missouri Preparing Future Faculty Postdoctoral Program

Elise Richardson

MSc Student graduated 2021

Thesis Title: A multi-scale assessment of the effects on pathogen infection on tick host-seeking behavior.

Currently a PhD student at NC State.

Travis Klee, PhD

PhD Student graduated 2024

Travis is co-advised by Dr. Colette St. Mary.

Dissertation title: Reciprocal phenotypic plasticity: Exploring the effects of predator behavioral plasticity in predator-prey interactions using empirical and theoretical approaches.

Sofia Valencia

Former undergraduate researcher. Currently in medical school.

Samantha Shablin

MSc Student graduated 2023

Thesis Title: Assessing the interconnected behavioral and physiological underpinnings of host responses to infection. Currently working at Disney's Animal Kingdom in the animal physiology group.

Ayana Davis

Former undergraduate researcher.

Currently working at the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.

Bhanu Musuluri

SPDR Collection Webmaster 2023

collaboratORs

Tim Colston, PhD

Assistant Professor

University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez

Website

Tim is a herpetologist by training, but his research integrates biogeography, evolutionary ecology, and host-microbiome interactions. We are currently collaborating on a project focusing on venom evolution and venom-associated microbiomes in social spiders.

Initiative for Venom Associated Microbes and Parasites (iVAMP)

Website

iVAMP is a collaborative, open-source group of researchers worldwide of all career stages and types with the shared interest to expand the reach of each other’s work as well as the direction of the field of venom microbiomics.

PDF of our first paper describing the field of venom microbiomics and introducing iVAMP.