Eloise Newman

An inevitable consequence of sociality is microbe transfer. Yet microbe exchange can be simultaneously beneficial and costly, transmitting both pathogens and healthy microbiota depending on host and microbe ‘environment' (e.g. host immune system, microbe community composition, and host social contacts). This trade-off underlies every social interaction and can have a life-long impact on health. Social interactions determine the network of a population, and thus the constraints of how microbes can spread. I am interested in using social network analysis to determine microbiome dynamics and what impacts these changes have on human health and immunity. More broadly, I am interested in how ecology and behaviour interact and the consequences on different time scales to answer questions about the evolution of sociality, ecological interactions and disease.

behaviour, ecology, evolution