# Emily Venable PhD Candidate (G6) ![profile picture of Emily Venable smiling with city scape in the background](/sites/g/files/omnuum1771/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2025-02/ERICCHAN_20240122_115085%20%281%29.jpg?itok=ksPOD9YZ) email My research broadly examines what is unique about the human gut microbiome and how human-specific behaviors, such as running and food processing, restructure our microbial communities and, further, how this restructuring feeds back into host phenotype and is an agent for natural selection. I apply evolutionary and ecological frameworks to quantify how host behavior alters the nutrient state of the colonic environment and perturbs gut microbial contributions to host energy status. My research uses a comparative approach examining the gut microbiomes of humans and our great ape relatives as well as an experimental approach that includes both murine and human intervention studies. - ## People [Graduate Students](/people/graduate-students)