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Seth Bordenstein

Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative (VMI), Director
Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation (VI4), Associate Director
Discover the Microbes Within! The Wolbachia Project
Vanderbilt Genetics Institute (VGI)
Department of Biological Sciences
Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology (PMI)


We endeavor to understand the principles that shape interactions between animals, microbes, and viruses and the basic and translational outcomes of these interactions. We employ hypothesis-driven approaches to study two forms of animal-microbe associations: intimate symbioses (between animals, obligate intracellular bacteria and bacteriophages) that impact animal reproduction and vector control, and facultative associations (between free-living organisms) that shape genome and microbiome evolution across the tree of life.

We endeavor to understand the principles that shape interactions between animals, microbes, and viruses and the basic and translational outcomes of these interactions. We employ hypothesis-driven approaches to study two forms of animal-microbe associations: intimate symbioses (between animals, obligate intracellular bacteria and bacteriophages) that impact animal reproduction and vector control, and facultative associations (between free-living organisms) that shape genome and microbiome evolution across the tree of life.

Keywords: Microbiome , Virus , Symbiosis , Evolution , Genomics

Research Area: Computational and Systems Biology , Host-Pathogen Interactions , Genomics , Virology , Bacteriology , Evolution