About
Hi, my name is Philip Campos and I graduated with a Master of Science degree in Biology on June 12, 2020 from Eastern Washington University in Cheney, WA. I am now working as an ORISE Research Fellow with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Beltsville, Maryland. ORISE is short for the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education.
In my Master's thesis project, I researched the relationships between the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendobatidis and the skin microbiome of frogs in northern Idaho and Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, Washington. Around 500 species of amphibians worldwide have faced population decline as a result of the disease, 90 of which are presumed or confirmed extinct. The amphibian skin microbiome contains bacteria with the ability to produce antifungal metabolites to inhibit the growth of chytrid fungus. By characterizing the skin microbiome found on frogs, we can investigate whether bacterial communities differ in infected and uninfected frogs. Greater understanding of these differences could lead to the development of probiotics to increase numbers of naturally occurring antifungal bacteria on threatened amphibian populations.
In my career, I am aiming to work in bioinformatics as a Computational Biologist.
I began my journey in ecology at UC Davis, where I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Evolution, Ecology, and Biodiversity in 2015.
Please take a look at the web version of my Curriculum Vitae or scroll down to see samples of my work!
