ECR Spotlight is a series of interviews with early-career authors from a selection of papers published in Journal of Experimental Biology and aims to promote not only the diversity of early-career researchers (ECRs) working in experimental biology during our centenary year but also the huge variety of animals and physiological systems that are essential for the ‘comparative’ approach. Kyle Emerson is an author on ‘Temperature and the microbial environment alter brain morphology in a larval amphibian’, published in JEB. Kyle is a PhD student in the lab of Dr Sarah Woodley at Duquesne University, USA, investigating how manipulations of the gut microbiome influence neurodevelopment and fitness in larval amphibian models.
Kyle Emerson
Describe your scientific journey and your current research focus
My introduction to scientific research came as an undergraduate at Allegheny College, where I began investigating how temperature variations influenced chytrid fungus tolerance in redback salamanders. I became infatuated with the amphibian model and came to Duquesne University to continue my research and pursue my PhD. I joined the lab of herpetologist Dr Sarah Woodley and continued my work with amphibians. Currently, I investigate how the manipulation of the gut microbiome (i.e. the trillions of microorganisms all vertebrates harbor in their gastrointestinal tracts that participate in symbiotic relationships with the host) influences amphibian fitness, with a specific focus in neurodevelopment and behavior. While many microbiome studies are conducted through a biomedical lens aimed to benefit human health, I hope to further integrate understudied, non-mammalian wildlife into this field of research and expand our understanding of host–microbe interactions.
What are the potential implications of this finding for your field of research, and is there anything that you learned during this study that you wish you had known sooner?
While we don't know the exact cellular mechanisms that are driving these changes, the fact that changes in temperature and the microbes present in the pond water drastically alter brain morphology can have implications for tadpole fitness. Specifically, we found that tadpoles raised in warmer temperatures and in sterilized pond water have alterations in the size and shape in the optic tectum, which is responsible for visually guided motor behaviors. Any changes in the morphology and function in the optic tectum can theoretically influence how tadpoles respond to visual stimuli in their local environment, such as predators and food sources. We also feel that these results are ecologically relevant, because of the well-documented shifts in the global climate as well as the pollution of freshwater systems by way of pesticides and antibiotics, which reduce the availability of colonizing microorganisms that hosts rely on for development as they enter the gastrointestinal tract. While I am proud of the work my collaborators and I put into this study, I do wish I'd known just how complex host–microbe interactions were before beginning!
Which part of this research project was the most rewarding/challenging?
Navigating the scientific literature in the microbiome field was the most challenging part. While there is no shortage of microbiome papers to read, only a small percentage of microbiome studies use non-mammalian wildlife and an even smaller percentage use an amphibian model. So, interpreting the results of the experiment was a challenge at times. But being able to add novel findings to the microbiome field in an amphibian model is a rewarding feeling that made the challenge worth it!
Why did you choose JEB to publish your paper?
During my literature search, I came across many published papers in JEB that I was impressed with. Further, since our study has relevance to organismal physiology in an environmental context, we felt that it would be of interest to readers of JEB. I also enjoy the Green Open Access publication option, which is super helpful and affordable to ECRs like myself who are trying to get their name out there.
If you had unlimited funding, what question in your research field would you most like to address?
The ultimate goal of microbiome research is to be able to look specific bacterial taxa that are part of the microbiome and determine the exact role they have in the vertebrate body. Because vertebrates harbor trillions of microorganisms within their guts that all have complex interactions with each other, it becomes exceedingly difficult to figure out exactly what role each bacterial taxa plays. If I had unlimited funding, I would like to determine which bacterial taxa are imperative in amphibian neurodevelopment and why. Who knows, at the rate next-generation sequencing methods are improving and becoming more affordable, it may not require expansive or unlimited funding!
What changes do you think could improve the lives of early-career researchers, and what would make you want to continue in a research career?
A major challenge for ECRs is obviously funding, especially for those not at R1 institutions. I do believe that there is value in conducting high-level graduate research without extensive amounts of funding, as it challenges you as a scientist and forces you to be creative in answering your question of interest. But I was shocked at how expensive it is to publish a manuscript. If more journals adopted the free publishing option, such as JEB's Green Open Access option, it would allow more ECRs to use their funding to make a more well-rounded experiment and can encourage ECRs including myself to continue in a research career.
What's next for you?
I hope to graduate from my program in spring 2024 and then begin a career as a professor of biology at a primarily undergraduate institution with an emphasis on teaching and mentoring undergraduate researchers. Fingers crossed!
Kyle Emerson's contact details: Department of Biological Sciences, Duquesne University, 600 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15282, USA.
E-mail: [email protected]
