Andrea Jani
Assistant Researcher, Pacific Biosciences Research Center, School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology
Phone: (808) 956-7827
Email: jania@hawaii.edu
Web: https://sites.google.com/view/jani-lab/research?authuser=0
MY RESEARCH
Our group is broadly interested in the composition, function, and resilience of microbial communities. We work with several different study systems, including amphibians, insects, and fermented foods, always around the central theme of understanding what determines the composition of microbial communities, their interactions with pathogenic invaders, their impacts on their hosts or environments, and their resilience (how they recover from disturbances). We focus on basic science that can inform applied needs in human health, wildlife conservation, and environmental sustainability.
INSECT MICROBIOMES AND DISEASE: When an animal or plant is infected with a pathogen, interactions between the pathogen and the host’s resident microbiome can influence disease progression. Resident microbes can inhibit pathogen invasion or growth, serving as an auxiliary immune system, but can also facilitate pathogen colonization or pathogenesis. Working with Drosophila flies, we study microbiome stability, interactions with pathogens, and ability to mediate infectious disease outcomes.
MICROBES IN FOOD: Fermented foods are well-loved in many cultures for their tastes, textures, cultural significance, and nutritional value. From an ecological perspective, fermented foods represent microcosms – small, contained ecosystems inhabited by microbes that can be relatively easily studied. We are interested in how interactions among microbes affects their ability to survive during the fermentation process, and how this affects the diversity and composition of microbial communities in fermented foods. We focus on poi because it is understudied and locally very important.
FROGS, MICROBIOMES, AND A NASTY PATHOGEN: Amphibians worldwide are threatened with a fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). We study the interactions between Bd and bacteria on the skin of frogs. We aim to understand how Bd infection changes the composition and function of the microbiome and how and when the microbiome can recover from Bd-induced disturbance (resilience).
C-MĀIKI SYNERGY
We strive to integrate basic science, locally important study systems, and open communication to build a research program that simultaneously advances universal scientific inquiry and informs efforts to tackle the unique challenges of our island ecosystems and communities. We communicate directly with local conservation practitioners for our insect microbiome research, and with kalo and cacao growers and poi producers for our fermented food research. This keeps us connected with the concerns and values of stakeholders. Our research is inherently highly interdisciplinary, integrating molecular and microbiology techniques with landscape level field surveys to understand how microbes reciprocally shape, and are shaped by, their environments.
IMPACT TO HAWAII
We focus on study systems that matter to the people and ecosystems of Hawaiʻi. Poi is a staple of the traditional Hawaiian diet, and holds a place of central importance in Hawaiian culture. However, poi has largely been displaced by cheaper staples such as rice and bread. At the same time, very little is known about the microbial dynamics of poi fermentation. Through our research on the poi microbiome, we hope to build understanding of this important food, increase interest in poi both locally and abroad, and possibly contribute to a revival in the production and consumption of this local staple. Hawaiʻi is home to nearly one thousand species of Drosophilid flies, found nowhere else. These flies span an incredible variety of natural histories, dietary and habitat preferences, and geographic and climatic ranges. However, many Hawaiian Drosophila species are in decline, or of unknown status due to insufficient data. Our research on the Hawaiian Drosophila microbiome strives to build understanding that may inform conservation of these unique animals. At the same time, leveraging the variation in these species to build broad understanding of animal microbiomes can help highlight the inherent value of Hawaiʻiʻs biological resources to the global scientific community.
