Faculty Profile for Dr. Lauren Fuess

profile photo for Dr. Lauren Fuess
Dr. Lauren Fuess
Assistant Professor — Biology
SUPP 384
phone: (512) 245-2178
Scholarly/Creative Work
Awards
Grants
Service

Biography Section

Research Interests

 My research focuses on understanding the ecological and evolutionary causes and consequences of variation in immune response among individuals. In particular I focus on the effects of symbiotic relationships on host immunity, and the impacts of these relationships on ecosystems.

Selected Scholarly/Creative Work

  • Fuess, L. E., & Bolnick, D. I. (2023). Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals micro-evolution of the stickleback immune system. Genome Biology & Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evad053
  • Changsut, I. V., Womack, H. R., Shickle, A., Sharp, K. H., & Fuess, L. E. (2022). Variation in symbiont density is linked to changes in constitutive immunity in the facultatively symbiotic coral, Astrangia poculata. Biology Letters. Retrieved from https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.16.496460v1
  • Weber, J. N., Steinel, N. C., Peng, F., Shim, K. C., Lohman, B. K., Fuess, L. E., … Bolnick, D. I. (2022). Evolutionary gain and loss of a pathological immune response to parasitism. Science, 377(6611). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abo3411
  • Fuess, L. E., den Haan, S., Ling, Weber, J. N., Steinel, N. C., & Bolnick, D. I. (2021). Immune gene expression covaries with gut microbiome composition in stickleback. mBio, 12(3). https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00145-21
  • Changsut, I. V., Borbee, E. M., Womack, H., Shickle, A., Sharp, K., & Fuess, L. E. (2024). Photosymbiont density is correlated with constitutive and induced immunity in the facultatively symbiotic coral, Astrangia poculata. Integrative & Comparative Biology.

Selected Awards

  • Award / Honor Recipient: Robert Lochmiller Award, Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology, Division of EcoImmunology & Disease Ecology. January 2023
  • Award / Honor Recipient: TXST COSE Achievement Award for Scholarly/Creative Activities, Texas State College of Science and Engineering. 2023 - Present
  • Award / Honor Recipient: TXST CoSE Millionaire Award, Texas State College of Science and Engineering. 2024
  • Award / Honor Nominee: Huey Award for Best Student Presentation, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Division of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. 2018
  • Award / Honor Recipient: Dean's Award for Best Oral Presentation, University of Texas at Arlington. 2016

Selected Grants

  • Fuess, Lauren Elizabeth (Principal), Sharp, Katherine H (Co-Principal). BRC-BIO: Establishing Astrangia poculata as a study system to understand how multi-partner symbiotic interactions affect pathogen response in cnidarians, National Science Foundation, Federal, $490280. (Submitted: December 2022, Funded: January 2024 - December 2026). Grant.
  • Fuess, Lauren Elizabeth (Principal), Gignoux-Wolfsohn, Sarah (Co-Principal). RAPID: Leveraging a natural bleaching event to assess links between bleaching and disease, National Science Foundation, Federal, $199134. (Submitted: September 2023, Funded: 2023 - 2025). Grant.
  • Fuess, Lauren Elizabeth, Gabor, Caitlin. Planning: CREST Center in Bioinformatics, National Science Foundation, Federal, $199960. (Submitted: June 2023, Funded: September 2023 - August 2025). Grant.
  • Fuess, Lauren Elizabeth (Principal), Klinges, Grace (Principal), Holstein, Daniel (Principal), Veglia, Alex (Principal). Tracking Bacterial, Viral, and Gene Expression Shifts throughout SCTLD Development in the Dry Tortugas, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, State, $259253. (Submitted: April 2023, Funded: July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2024). Grant.
  • Gignoux-Wolfsohn, Sarah (Principal), Fuess, Lauren Elizabeth (Supporting). Identifying Predictors of Coral Disease Resistance, Paul M. Angell Foundation, Private / Foundation / Corporate, $75000. (Submitted: July 2021, Funded: 2022 - 2023). Grant.

Selected Service Activities

Member
Shared Research Operations Committee
September 2024-Present
Member
Postdoc Development Working Group
2023-Present
Chair
Francis Rose Scholarship for Excellence in Undergraduate Research Committee
September 2023-Present
Member
Lamar & Marilynn Johanson Graduate Endowment in Biology Scholarship Committee
2022-Present
Mentor
Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Meet an EcoImmunologist Mentor
2021-Present