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Harnessing microbiology to tackle global challenges

Professional headshot photo of Dr Sarah Worsley

Dr Sarah Worsley

Leverhulme Trust Early Career Research Fellow

Research themes:
Evolutionary Interactions
Microbial Community Interactions
Contact details:
s.worsley@uea.ac.uk
Part of

Biography

I am a microbial ecologist interested in the evolutionary ecology of host-microbe interactions.

Currently, I am studying the relative importance of host evolutionary history, versus ecological variation, in shaping microbiome differences across natural populations. This work has important implications for understanding how microbiomes evolve alongside the divergence and speciation of their hosts and how future population fragmentation may impact host-microbe interactions. I use a unique system of diverging island populations of the Berthelot’s pipit to study these processes. Within this system, I am also interested in the impact of anthropogenic factors, such as intensive agriculture and urbanisation, on host-associated bacterial and viral communities.

Previously, I was a postdoc on the Seychelles warbler project at UEA where my work focused on understanding the drivers and fitness consequences of gut microbiome variation within wild populations. Prior to that, during my PhD, I used to molecular techniques to better understand microbiome assembly mechanisms across diverse taxa including leafcutter ants and plant roots.