The view of downtown Detroit from Hutzel Women’s Hospital. An excellent view with which to end each evening.
The Maternal-Fetal Single-Cell Genomics, Immunology and Microbiome Units of the Perinatology Research Branch. In the front, from left to right, are Drs. Roger Pique-Regi, Nardhy Gomez-Lopez, and Kevin Theis, the Section Heads of these three Units.
Violetta culturing microbes from clinical samples under low oxygen conditions.
Andrew preparing to conduct DNA extractions on clinical samples in effort to characterize their microbial profiles.
Andrew culturing microbes from mouse tissue samples under anaerobic conditions.
The 1st Interdisciplinary Workshop on Holobionts was held in Bourdeaux, France in 2017. This was a highly productive conference, with much discussion. Part of the conference was held in Saint-Émilion, at the Château Grand Barrail (see here).
The 1st International Conference on Holobionts was held in Paris, France in 2017. The venue was the prestigious Grand Amphithéâtre of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle. This was an exceptional conference, during which Kevin was fortunate to spend much quality time with Dr. Eugene Rosenberg, a founder of the hologenome concept (together with Dr. Ilana Zilber-Rosenberg).
As a graduate student and postdoc, Kevin studied the role of symbiotic microbes in hyena chemical communication. This photo is of a spotted hyena pasting (i.e. scent marking) on a grass stalk in the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. Dr. Kay Holekamp and her students have been studying hyenas in the Mara for 30 years. Check out their great work here.
Spotted hyenas “social sniffing” a pasted (i.e. scent-marked) grass stalk in the Mara.
A lone juvenile spotted hyena investigating a pasted grass stalk in the Mara.
Kevin conducting experiments on hyena scent marking using night vision goggles.
Kevin with Detroit, an adult immigrant male hyena, in the Mara in 2004. Detroit was a handsome and memorable hyena.
Members of Fisi Camp in the Summer of 2002 (Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya), Kevin’s first semester as a graduate student.