Welcome to the Barber lab

Animals and bacteria encode a variety of molecules to sense, manipulate, and defend against each another. The outcome of these exchanges can mean the difference between peaceful coexistence and deadly infection, creating the potential for evolutionary conflict between microbial and host populations. Our long-term goal is to better understand how host-microbe associations evolve as well as the consequences of these interactions for adaptation, immunity, and disease.

We are affiliated with the Institute of Ecology & Evolution and the Department of Biology at the University of Oregon.

banner art by Janet Iwasa