Dr. Cowardin received both her B.S. (2010) and Ph.D. (2015, Petri lab) from UVA before completing postdoctoral research with Dr. Jeffrey Gordon at Washington University in Saint Louis. Returning to UVA in July 2020 makes Dr. Cowardin a proud triple Hoo. She has been fascinated by the complex immune and bacterial environment of the gut since her days of undergraduate research, and is motivated to apply lessons learned from this work to understanding, preventing, and treating childhood undernutrition.

Dr. Richie received her B.S. (2020) from North Carolina State University and went on to complete a Ph.D. (2024) at Kansas State University working with Dr. Sonny Lee. There, she investigated which microbes are present in inflammatory bowel disease through metagenomics and other ‘omics to quantify the microbial functions that continually drive inflammation in the gut via nutrient stealing. She is excited to take this knowledge and apply this framework to the gut environment in the mouse stunting model to find microbes that could aid in undernutrition.

Yadeliz graduated from the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras in May 2020 with a Bachelor of Natural Sciences focusing in Molecular Biology. Through her undergraduate years she worked in the environmental microbiology field characterizing Enterococcus spp. using Next Generation Sequencing and bioinformatics approaches. As a graduate student, she is motivated to venture in a new field of microbiology researching how the gut microbiome and the immune system influence stunting in children using an intergenerational mouse model.

Claire graduated with her B.S. in Biology from the University of Virginia in May 2022, and she is happy to now be a double Hoo in the BIMS program. She participated in undergraduate research in the field of cancer immunology in the Engelhard Lab but has always also been interested in how the microbiome interacts with the immune system, particularly how perturbations in the microbiome affect immune function. She is excited to study how changes in the maternal microbiome in the context of undernutrition affect immune development in offspring.

Axel is a recently graduated Hoo in the Cowardin Lab with a strong interest in understanding the role of the microbiome in environmental enteric dysfunction and its impact on childhood stunting. He is passionate about learning metagenomics and contributing to its use in exploring the functional capacity of the microbiota, with the goal of uncovering potential microbial pathways that can be targeted through culturally sensitive interventions. He is eager to apply this knowledge to develop practical solutions for improving health outcomes in underserved communities.

Lindsey is a fourth year undergraduate student at UVA in the Biology Distinguished Majors Program. She is intrigued by the molecular basis of childhood undernutrition, a rising public health concern. Lindsey is researching the relationship between the innate immune system and gut inflammation in the context of childhood stunting. She is excited to explore changes in ILC lineages across the maternal and child microbiome.

Aria is a visiting graduate student from Jagiellonian University, participating in the Fulbright BioLab program. His research focuses on examining the complex pathways involved in malnutrition. He is drawn to the idea of how early, targeted interventions can create a transformative and lasting impact on a child’s life. Outside the lab, Aria enjoys traveling, volunteering, and engaging in cultural exchanges, always seeking new experiences and meaningful connections.