Dr. Carlye Chaney – Best Postdoctoral Presentation

I am an NSF SBE Postdoctoral Fellow in the Mallott Lab at Washington University in St. Louis and a Preparing Future Faculty Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Missouri. My research investigates the biological mechanisms linking environmental inequities to changes in human biology across the lifecourse. In particular, I am interested in how the gut microbiome serves as mediator between environmental conditions experienced during sensitive windows of development – such as pollutant exposure – and changes in human biology.

My 2025 HBA presentation, titled “Elucidating the causal pathway linking social determinants of health to changes in the gut microbiome through inflammatory pathways in two low-resource U.S. communities,” used structural equation modeling to investigate the relationship between the social determinants of health and gut microbiome diversity among residents in the Mississippi Delta and southwest Illinois. We found that income and diet had significant direct effects on multiple alpha diversity metrics, including Shannon and Faith’s Phylogenetic Distance, with greater income predicting greater alpha diversity. Additionally, education had an indirect effect through income and diet, suggesting that the origin of these relationships was education. Further, the biological mechanism did not appear to be inflammation; future research is needed to investigate if these relationships are driven by another pathway, such as oxidative stress.

I am currently working on writing up these results for publication, along with additional analyses of microbiome composition.

I am grateful for the exciting and dynamic community of researchers that come together through AAAG. I also appreciate the opportunities that AAAG provides to help trainees grow through interesting and timely sessions, educational workshops, and networking opportunities. I am honored to have received the AAAG OTPAG award!

Samantha Miller– Best Graduate Student Podium Presentation

I am a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Yale University, where I work in the Human Evolutionary Genomics Lab and am advised by Dr. Serena Tucci. My research interests are centered on genetic variants inherited from archaic hominins that helped early modern humans adapt to novel environments. My dissertation work uses a functional genomics approach to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which archaic introgression contributed to human local adaptation.

My presentation at AABA 2025, titled “The contribution of archaic introgression to local adaptation in Oceania,” identified archaic introgressed haplotypes under positive selection in Samoans and investigated their functional consequences. We found that the Samoan genomes in our dataset harbor a greater amount of archaic introgressed sequence than any of the 26 worldwide populations from the 1000 Genomes Project. We identified novel candidates for adaptive archaic introgression, as well as strong signatures of selection acting on archaic variants at loci related to pigmentation and neuronal development. Many of our top adaptive introgression candidates are involved in regulatory networks, highlighting the complexity of the role that archaic introgression played in modern human adaptation.

I am currently preparing to publish this work and beginning the final phase of my dissertation research. I plan to defend in 2026 and I am looking for post-doctoral positions that will enable me to delve deeper into the functional genomics of archaic introgression using genome-editing techniques and organoid models.

My favorite part of being a member of AAAG is engaging with the collaborative network of passionate researchers that AAAG has cultivated. With each workshop and event, AAAG provides opportunities to meet and learn from scientists across career stages, research interests, and the country. I am so appreciative of this community and the valuable connections I have made that will follow me throughout my career. I am honored to have received the 2025 OTPAG award.

William Aguado – Best Graduate Student Poster Presentation

I am a PhD candidate at Rutgers University and a member of Dr. Erin Vogel's lab for Primate Dietary Ecology and Physiology. I primarily do research on primate ecology with an eye towards dietary adaptations. A question that guides my research is: how do foraging primates manage to get balanced, nutritious diets while dealing with the noxious plant compounds that come along for the ride? A substantial portion of my research entails studying primate feeding ecology in the field, but recently I have turned to genomics. Currently I'm studying the role of saliva as a defense against plant toxins, and the ways that defensive salivary proteins have changed through primate evolution.

My presentation at the 2025 AABA meeting looked at the evolution of the salivary proline-rich protein (PRP) gene family across primates. The proteins these genes encode are thought to be expressed in the saliva as a defense against tannins -- a super common class of plant specialized metabolite that can disrupt digestion and have other damaging effects when ingested. As a defense against tannins, we expected to find a link between diet and structural variation of these genes. One exciting finding is that the leaf-eating colobine monkeys have a high copy number of a unique tandem repeat motif that may be making their PRPs highly effective in defending against tannins.

As I wrap up this paper, and the rest of my dissertation, I'll also be looking for post-docs or other research/teaching opportunities. I'm hoping that in the next phase of my career I'll be able to continue to develop my genomics tool-kit to answer questions of primate ecology and evolution.

Being an AAAG member has benefitted me tremendously. My project that I presented actually owes its conception to some serendipitous encounters and discussions at a AAAG gathering a few years ago! The community, and the networking opportunities are what makes the AAAG shine. I am extremely thankful for the AAAG and it is an honor to receive their recognition for my work.