Tara Essock-Burns, Ph.D.
Assistant Researcher, PBRC
Education
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Ph.D. in Marine Science and Conservation, Duke University
B.A. in Biology, B.S. in Environmental Studies, Emory University
Research Interests
Understanding the relationship between early life exposure to microbes and the development of a host's microbiota, immune function, and tissue morphology is critical to unravel mechanisms regulating health and disease. Using a binary model of symbiosis, the squid-vibrio system, it is possible to ask questions about the molecular mechanisms underpinning interactions between microbes and hosts that initiate and sustain symbioses.
Areas of interest are:
1. How does the microbiogeography of host tissue shape its ability to promote or deter colonization by bacterial symbionts?
2. How does the bidirectional chemical dialogue between symbiont and host trigger developmental transitions in the tissue microenvironments?
3. How does the state of tissue maturation shape the ability to initiate and sustain a partnership with bacterial symbionts?
_BN1 narrowest slice BEST BEST - Tara Essock-Burns.png)
