Faculty Profiles

Lauren Fuess is an Assistant Professor at Texas State University. She received her BS degree with honors in Marine Biology from the College of Charleston in 2012. From 2012-2013 she served as a Fulbright Full Grant Recipient in Jamaica where she conducted coral ecology research. In 2018 she received her doctoral degree from the University of Texas at Arlington; Her doctoral work, supported in part by an NSF graduate research fellowship, was focused on understanding the causes and consequences of variation in immunity amongst Caribbean corals. She then spent two years working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Connecticut, investigating evolution of immunity in an emergent fish-parasite system, supported in part by an American Association of Immunologists Fellowship. Since arriving at Texas State in 2020, Dr. Fuess has built a robust research program studying the roles of symbiotic interactions in cnidarian immunity and the ecology and evolution of these patterns. Her work has been funded by diverse sources such as the National Science Foundation and Florida Department of Environmental Protection. She has received national recognition for her leadership in the fields of ecological immunology from the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology. Furthermore, broad interest in her work has resulted in numerous invited talks and seminars across the country.

Research in Dr. Fuess's group focuses on understanding the ecological and evolutionary causes and consequences of variation in immune response among individuals. In particular the group focuses on the effects of symbiotic relationships on host immunity, and the impacts of these relationships on ecosystems. The group works across cnidarian systems, ranging from anemones to temperate and tropical corals, and addresses questions of both basic biology and pressing conservation issues. Dr. Fuess and her mentees use a combination of traditional ecological and evolutionary experimental approaches, integrative 'omic analyses (transcriptomics, genomics, microbiome analyses), and biochemical immune assays to approach these questions. Research in the group has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, National Academy of Sciences, and Paul M. Angell Foundation.

Since arriving at TXST, Dr. Fuess has worked to develop upper level immunology course offerings in the Biology Department, focusing on serving the needs of our wildlife and aquatic biology students. She has created two new courses in non-model immunology: Ecoimmunology and Comparative Immunology. Furthermore, as lead PI of an NSF Planning Grant, Dr. Fuess is working to create a cohesive pipeline for bioinformatics training, including coursework, across departments at Texas State. She is also working to incorporate more undergraduate research opportunities through the creation of Course Based Undergraduate Research Experiences and integration of these CUREs into existing coursework. Presently she is developing a course in Microbial Symbiosis with a CURE-focused lab.