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

I am a project scientist in the Gilbert and Knight labs at UCSD and a scientific affiliate with the Negaunee Integrative Research Center at the Field Museum of Natural History. My research interests include the ecology and evolution of host-symbiont systems and ecoimmunology, with a focus on Afrotropical bats, birds, and their microbes and parasites. My research relies on a collections-based approach integrated with metagenomic, metabolomic, and histological methods. I also apply these methods to clinical and experimental investigations into 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 tropical ecosystems. I believe in equity, diversity, and inclusion, and promote these values in the courses I teach and the students I mentor.
​

---

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)

Follow @fieldomics

Tweets by hllutz

google scholar

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