Kat Milligan-McClellan

Assistant Professor

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

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Education

Ph.D., University of Wisconsin

Research Focus

Our lab focuses on how host genetic background contributes to the balance between the immune response to microbiota in the gut and intestinal microbial membership. Given that gut microbiota protect the host against pathogens, we are also interested in determining how host genetic background induces or suppresses inflammation in the gut, and how those changes result in differential susceptibility to pathogens due to, or concurrent with, changes in microbiota membership.

Selected Publications

Michael R.Fulcher, Marian L.Bolton, Michael D.Millican, José PabloDundore-Arias, JoHandelsman, Jonathan L.Klassen, Kathryn C.Milligan-Myhre, Benjamin E.Wolfe, Linda L.Kinkel, Broadening Participation in Scientific Conferences during the Era of Social Distancing, Trends in Microbiology, September 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2020.08.004

Milligan-Myhre, K. C. A. (2020, March). Using an evolutionary model organism to reveal host genetic influence on host-microbe interactions. In INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY (Vol. 60, pp. E162-E162). OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC.

Milligan-Myhre, K.C., (2019) mSphere of Influence: an Inupiat Journey in Science. mSphere. Sept 2019. 4(5) e00595-19. https://doi.org/10.1128/mSphere.00595-19.

Kirschman, L.J., Milligan-Myhre, K.C. (2018) The costs of living together: Immune responses to the microbiota and chronic gut inflammation. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Sept 2018. DOI: 10.1128/AEM.02147-18

Burns, A., Miller, E., Agarwal, M., Rolig, A.S., Milligan-Myhre, K., Seredick, S., Guillemin, K.J., Bohannan, B.J.M. (2017) Inter-host dispersal alters microbiome assembly and can overwhelm host innate immunity in an experimental zebrafish model. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Oct 17, 2017. 114 (42) 11181-11186. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702511114

Torunn F., Milligan-Myhre, K. (2017) “Gnotobiotic Fish as Models to Study Host-Microbe Interactions.” Gnotobiotics. Ed.Trenton R. Schoeb, Kathryn A. Eaton. Academic Press, Aug 11, 2017. Pages 369-383. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-804561-9.00006-2

Lescak EA, Milligan-Myhre KC. (2017) Teleosts as Model Organisms To Understand Host-Microbe Interactions. J Bacteriol. Jul 11;199(15). pii: e00868-16. doi: 10.1128/JB.00868-16.

Small C.M., Milligan-Myhre, K., Bassham,S., Guillemin,K., Cresko, W.A. (2017) Host Genotype and Microbiota Contribute Asymmetrically to Transcriptional Variation in the Threespine Stickleback Gut. Genome Biol Evol. 2017 Mar 1;9(3):504-520. doi: 10.1093/gbe/evx014.

Milligan-Myhre, K., Small, C.M., Mittge, E.K., Currey, M., Agarwal, M., Cresko, W.A., Guillemin, K. (2016) Innate immune responses to gut microbiota differ in closely related threespine stickleback fish populations. Disease Models and Mechanisms. 9: 187-198; doi: 10.1242/dmm.021881.

Stagaman, K., Guillemin, K., Milligan-Myhre, K. (2014) Tending a complex microbiota requires major immune complexity. Molecular Ecology. (19), 4679-81. PMID: 2263404

Milligan-Myhre, K., Charette, J. R., Phennicie, R. T., Stephens, W. Z., Rawls, J. F., Guillemin, K. and Kim, C. H. (2011). Study of Host-Microbe Interactions in Zebrafish. In Methods in Cell Biology (The Zebrafish: Disease Models and Chemical Screens 3rd Edition), Elsevier. 105, 87-116. PMID: 21951527