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 disease. He is a self-admitted study system collector (17 species so far!), with an inordinate love for invertebrates. He is also a mega-nerd, juggler-in-training, and loves heavy metal.

Graduate students

Steven Cassidy

email: stevencassidy [at] ufl [dot] edu

Steven is a PhD student 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 has also worked with the African social spider Stegodyphus dumicola. He plans to study how the nature of species interactions can covary with behavior and diseases.

Sam Shablin

email: samanthashablin [at] ufl [dot] edu

Sam is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow who received her B.S. in Ecology & Evolution and B.A. in History from the University of Pittsburgh. As an undergrad, Sam worked with the fungal pathogen Bd, and its interactions with glucocorticoids and frog behavior. During her PhD, she plans to study how an individual’s social behavior impacts their susceptibility to disease and how behavior may underlie both interspecific and intraspecific transmission, especially among more susceptible native species and more resistant invasive species. Outside of the lab, Sam enjoys scuba diving and taking her lizard for walks. Sam is co-advised by Dr. Ana Longo.

undergraduate researchers

lab alumni

Emily Durkin, PhD

Evolutionary Ecology of Symbioses

Postdoc 2019-2021

Assistant Professor of Parasitology

University of Tampa

Website

Allison Roth, PhD

Consequences of Animal Sociality

Postdoc 2019-2020

Elise Richardson

MSc Student 2019-2021

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

Currently a PhD student at NC State

collaboration network

Tim Colston, PhD

Affiliate Faculty Member, Department of Biology, University of Florida

Website

Tim is a herpetologist by training, but his research integrates biogeography, evolutionary ecology, and host-microbiome interactions. Tim collaborates with the Keiser Lab on a project focusing on venom evolution and venom-associated microbiomes in social spiders.

Initiative for Venom Associated Microbes and Parasites (iVAMP)

Website