Our new research, "Host traits and environmental factors shape infection heterogeneity in wild rat–protozoa networks", is now available on ISME Communications!

The study, previously available as a preprint, is now published following peer-review in ISME Communications!

In this study, our students Matan, Itamar, and Barry, together with collaborators, show that individual hosts differ in consistent and predictable ways in their protozoan parasite infection profiles. Using stochastic block modeling and machine learning on black rats sampled across Madagascar, they identify three distinct infection profiles that reflect different roles in parasite transmission. Host traits — particularly body mass and gut microbiome composition — were substantially more informative than environmental factors in predicting these profiles, contributing 40% more to predictions. These results highlight infection profiles as a powerful lens for understanding host-parasite dynamics and improving spillover risk prediction at human–animal interfaces.

Read the full paper here: ISME Communications