My research has focused on the evolution and ecology of infectious disease in natural population. My fundamental concern is human infectious disease but, somewhat unusually, I have used plants as tractable, accessible models with which to investigate the transmission and dynamics of pathogens in nature. However, we have researched diseases in organisms as diverse as bumble bees, mice, and primates, and include human data sets in our analyses. I also have an interest in the history of evolutionary biology and germ theory, and self-sustaining ecological systems. I retired from teaching eight years ago, and am not taking on graduate students or new post-docs. I now focus on research and writing, with a current interest in clade age and pathogen occurrence in ferns. I have been fortunate to have funding from NIH, NSF, and the Humboldt Foundation, and now collaborate in research with the labs of Mandy Gibson, here at University of Virginia, and Emme Bruns (University of Maryland), Michael Hood (Amherst College), Mike Boots (University of California, Berkeley) and Matthias Rillig (Free University, Berlin).
JANIS ANTONOVICS
NEWS and UPCOMING ACTIVITIES 12 January 2025
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I meet regularly with the labs of Drs. Emme Bruns (University of Maryland), Michael Hood (Amherst College), and Mandy Gibson (University of Virginia), and interact online with the lab of Dr. Matthias Rillig, Free University, Berlin.
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Paper online:
Mansour, I., Hähnlein, M., Minkewitz, L., Wilk, E. N., Remus-Emsermann, M., Antonovics, J., Rillig, M. C. 2024.
Spatial structure affects the establishment and persistence of closed microbial ecosystems. BioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.06.28.601237
​Talks and participation:
On Septemebr 17th, 2024, I gave a talk to the University of Virginia Ecology and Evolutionary Biology discussion group (EEBIO) titled: "John Burdon Sanderson, the namesake of J. B. S. Haldane, and the germ theory of disease".
In summer 2024, I participated in field work in Italy, and I continue as a member of the Science Advisory Board of the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. I have also taken part in the field trips of the Scottish Section of the British Pteridological Society.
RECENT PAPERS
Hood, M. E., Bruns, E. L., Antonovics, J., Davis, I., Launi, M., Bulzoni, S. and Rothberg, S. E. 2024. Genetic independence of naturally correlated variation in resistance to endemic and novel pathogens. Ecology Letters 27: e14553. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14553
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Chapman, M. A., Simon J. Hiscock, S. J., Antonovics, J., Barrett, S. C. H., Brennan, A. C. and Liu, J. 2024. Reflections on the life and work of Richard Abbott (1945–2024). Molecular Ecology 33:e17439. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17439
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Antonovics, J. and Alexander, H. M. 2024. Early research on anther-smut disease: a fuller view of science. Ecology and Evolution 14: e11483. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.11483
Antonovics, J. 2023. Fern family clade age and fungal pathogen diversity. American Fern Journal 113:137-169. https://doi.org/10.1640/0002-8444-113.3.137
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Hulse, S., Antonovics, J., Hood, M. E. and Bruns, E. L. 2023. Host pathogen coevolution promotes the evolution of general, broad spectrum resistance and reduces foreign pathogen spillover risk. Evolution Letters 7: 467–477. https://doi.org/10.1093/evlett/qrad051