Associate Professor Dana Davis

This group's primary focus is understanding how the fungal commensal of humans, Candida albicans, adapts to diverse mucosal niches within the human host. One aspect of this adaptation is the generation of genetic diversity using non-sexual mechanisms in order to generate phenotypic variants able to thrive in new niches. A second question is whether C. albicans colonizes other mammals, and if so, are these strains distinct from those identified in humans. Relatedly, the group is identifying and characterizing novel yeast that colonize the gastro-intestinal track of wild mammals.