Devin M. Drown, Ph.D.
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Devin M. Drown, Ph.D., is associate professor of biology and faculty director of the Institute of Arctic Biology Genomics Core at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks, Alaska. Drown received his bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College and a Ph.D. at Washington State University. He conducted postdoctoral research in the evolutionary genetics of host-symbiont interactions at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
The Drown lab investigates a number of diverse topics including host-microbe interactions and emerging pathogens. His lab is interested in the impacts of climate change on the Arctic and sub-Arctic ecosystems, particularly plant-microbe interactions within the boreal forest. The lab is characterizing changes in the soil resistome to better understand antibiotic resistance as a result of thawing permafrost. His lab also works on emerging veterinary pathogens, including African Swine Fever Virus. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, his lab supports efforts to track SARS-CoV-2 variants in Alaska. The Drown lab has been employing nanopore sequencing for many research projects.
Drown has a passion for engaging undergraduate students in research. Drown is an active member of the leadership for the Alaska Branch of ASM and works with the Alaska INBRE program building biomedical research capacity within Alaska.
The Drown lab investigates a number of diverse topics including host-microbe interactions and emerging pathogens. His lab is interested in the impacts of climate change on the Arctic and sub-Arctic ecosystems, particularly plant-microbe interactions within the boreal forest. The lab is characterizing changes in the soil resistome to better understand antibiotic resistance as a result of thawing permafrost. His lab also works on emerging veterinary pathogens, including African Swine Fever Virus. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, his lab supports efforts to track SARS-CoV-2 variants in Alaska. The Drown lab has been employing nanopore sequencing for many research projects.
Drown has a passion for engaging undergraduate students in research. Drown is an active member of the leadership for the Alaska Branch of ASM and works with the Alaska INBRE program building biomedical research capacity within Alaska.