Vanessa Corby-Harris

Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Mailing address: 1041 E. Lowell St., Tucson, AZ 85721
Telephone: (520) 626- 2772
Fax: (520) 626-3522
Email: vcorby@email.arizona.edu

I am interested in the evolutionary ecology of interactions between insects, such as Drosophila, and the bacterial communities they associate with in nature. To study these relationships, I employ a variety of approaches, including organism-level, molecular genetic, and phylogenetic methods. The research questions I am currently addressing relate to interactions between Drosophila species and their heritable endosymbiont, Spiroplasma. In particular, I am interested in why, in nature, Spiroplasma infection is concentrated in certain species of Drosophila, but largely absent in others. I am particularly interested in the role the host immune system might play in mediating these Drosophila-Spiroplasma interactions and for producing the patterns of infection prevalence across host species.