Colleen Cavanaugh

Colleen Cavanaugh

Edward C. Jeffrey Professor of Biology
Colleen Cavanaugh

Faculty Support: Karen Manning

Dr. Colleen M. Cavanaugh is the Edward C. Jeffrey Professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and co-founder of the Microbial Sciences Initiative at Harvard University. Her research interests focus on microbial symbiosis and evolution with emphasis on bacteria-animal associations including diversity, transmission strategies, and coevolution. She has participated in research cruises worldwide with deep-sea dives in the submersible Alvin. With expertise in the study of uncultured bacteria, her research has expanded from marine symbioses to the characterization of the microbiomes of human and wild animals and their role in health and disease. This includes recent studies on the gut microbiome of Darwin’s finches and the human oral microbiome.

Selected Publications

Utter, DR, CM Cavanaugh, and GG Borisy. 2022. Genome-centric dynamics shape the diversity of oral bacterial populations. mBio, e02414-22. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.02414-22

Utter, DR, GG Borisy, A Murat Eren, CM Cavanaugh, and JL Mark Welch. 2020. Metapangenomics of the oral microbiome provides insights into habitat adaptation and cultivar diversity. Genome Biol 21:1-25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-020-02200-2

Loo, WT, J García-Loor, RY Dudaniec, S Kleindorfer, and CM Cavanaugh. 2019. Host phylogeny, diet, and habitat differentiate the gut microbiomes of Darwin’s finches on Santa Cruz Island. Sci Rep 9, 18781. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-54869-6

Russell, SL, E McCartney, and CM Cavanaugh. 2018. Transmission strategies in a chemosynthetic symbiosis: detection and quantification of symbionts in host tissues and their environment. Proc. R. Soc. B, 285:20182157. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.2157

Gomaa, F, M Gersh, and CM Cavanaugh. 2018. Diverse Legionella-like bacteria associated with testate amoebae of the genus Arcella (Arcellinida: Amoebozoa). J Eukaryot Microbiol. 65:661-668. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeu.12511

Reveillaud, J, R Anderson, S Reves-Sohn, CM Cavanaugh, and JA Huber. 2018. Metagenomic investigation of vestimentiferan tubeworm endosymbionts from Mid-Cayman Rise reveals new insights into metabolism and diversity. Microbiome 6:1-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-018-0411-x

Russell, SL and CM Cavanaugh. 2017. Intra-host genetic diversity of bacterial symbionts exhibits evidence of mixed infections and recombinant haplotypes. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 34:2747-2761. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msx188

Courses Taught

Freshman Seminar 24Q: Biology of Symbiosis: From the Deep-Sea to the Human Microbiome
OEB 277 In Sickness and in Health: Topics in Symbiosis
OEB 343 Microbial Ecology and Symbiosis

Contact Information

Biological Laboratories
16 Divinity Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138

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