​Holly L. Lutz, PhD
Asst. Project Scientist
Scripps Institution of Oceanography | Department of Pediatrics
Center for Microbiome Innovation
University of California San Diego

I am a scientist in the Center for Microbiome Innovation at UCSD and a research associate with the Integrative Research Center at the Field Museum of Natural History. I utilize a collections-based approach to study microbial symbionts, parasites, and pathogens in a diverse range of hosts, from Afrotropical mammals and birds to cephalopods and other marine invertebrates. My current research focuses on the use of metagenomic, metabolomic, and microscopic methods to assess eco-evolutionary links between hosts and their microbes. I am also involved in clinical and experimental approaches to understanding the role of bacterial symbionts in human disease phenotypes. Continuing interests and collaborations involve the evolution and ecology of malarial parasites and related haemosporidia, and biotic inventories of threatened ecosystems in the Afrotropics.
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Press

• "By studying wild bats, alum seeks clues to COVID-19 immunity" (UChicago News, 2020)
• "Scientists find mammal with unusual assortment of gut bacteria" (iflscience.com 2020)
• ​"The secret to flight in birds and bats is not just wings, it's guts" (Quirks & Quarks, CBC 2020)
• "The birds and the bats: Evolving to fly may have had big effect on gut microbiome" (SciGlow. 2020)
• ​"Gut Bacteria: How bats 'shift the paradigm'" (MedicalNewsToday, 2019)
• "Bat Microbiome is Unique Among Mammals" (Microbial Minutes, American Society for Microbiology, 2019)
• "The cuttlefish may be flashy, but its microbiome is super simple" (www.sciencedaily.com, 2019)

• ​"Scientists probe new ways to control malaria" ​(Science news for students, 2018)

• ​"Study Reveals Evolution of Malaria" (www.Phys.org, 2016) ​
• "The Malaria Family Tree Leads Back to Birds" (Cornell Lab of Ornithology, www.AllAboutBirds.org, 2016)

• ​"Study of African Birds Reveals Hotbed of Malaria Parasite Diversity" (DrexelNOW, 2015)

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orcid.org/0000-0001-6454-809X