HelmBank Release R1: DNA barcodes for wildlife parasites—now available

Biodiversity credits: where markets meet monitoring, DNA reference libraries are a high-leverage investment

What would it take to make DNA evidence "creditable" in savanna biodiversity programs—and who is going to build the databases we need to get there?

Charismatic Critter Club—Science Illustration that Makes Conservation Click

A new science-illustration project is giving biodiversity a fresh cast of characters. Charismatic Critter Club was founded by Julianne “Jules” Ho—a student in the Brown–RISD Dual Degree Program and an undergraduate researcher of Institute at Brown for Environment & Society. Charismatic Critter Club creates short visual narratives to translate the hidden biology of how real species live their lives into illustrated characters that we can all identify with. The goal: make complex ecological relationships—food webs, symbioses, microbiomes, parasites—easier to understand, remember, and share, without washing over the science. 🔗 Charismatic Critter Club 🔗 Brown–RISD Dual Degree

Jules Ho uses her scientific training to create charismatic creatures—the art makes it easier to understand, remember, and share about species that are often overlooked components of biodiversity.

Alumni Spotlight: Andy Luo (Biology, Honors, 2021–2024)

Student Success Coach, City Year Greater Boston. Brown Biology alum; Fulbright Scholar in Taiwan; matriculating medical student; contestant on Jeopardy!   Andy Luo was an undergraduate researcher in the Kartzinel Lab for three years and a core member of our Italian wall lizard project team. Andy’s research focused on the physiological and behavioral mechanisms that allow a Mediterranean lizard to persist through the frigid Boston winters—work that culminated in an Honors thesis and a first-authored manuscript (in review at Herpetology Notes). After graduating, Andy pursued a path that bridges science, education, and service: he spent 11 months in rural Chiayi County, Taiwan as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. Before starting medical school in 2026, Andy has served as a Student Success Coach with City Year Greater Boston to support fifth graders in an under-resourced public school.

Metabarcoding vs. Metagenomics: Two Ways to Decode Diets and Microbiomes

​Modern ecological research increasingly relies on DNA to discover what animals eat. Two broad classes of DNA-based strategies—called DNA metabarcoding and metagenomics—can provide complementary data that provide insight into what animals eat and why it matters. When should we select one versus the other (or try combining both)?

An Oxford Nanopore MinION is a portable sequencing platform for metabarcoding and metagenomic applications

Metabarcoding Versus Direct Observation in Wildlife Diet Studies

Direct observation is the oldest method in ecology. Before sequencers and statistical ecology matured into their modern forms — there were notebooks, binoculars, and patient observers recording what animals ate, one bite at a time. So how does dietary DNA metabarcoding compare to actually watching animals eat? Well, it’s different, and sometimes it can be transformative. Both can be essential if your goal is to understand ecology or protect endangered species.

Direct observations of pronghorn antelope grazing in Yellowstone National Park

Metabarcoding vs. Stable Isotopes: Two Ways to See What Animals Eat

​Understanding animal diets is fundamental to ecology, evolution, and conservation—but different methods reveal different aspects of feeding behavior. Two widely used approaches, DNA metabarcoding and stable isotope analysis, answer overlapping questions in very different ways.

An endangered Grevy's zebra may eat almost nothing but grass (stable isotopes) yet still eat many grass species (DNA metabarcoding)

Why Your Gift to a University’s Conservation Lab Matters More Than You Think

​Profile: Cecilia Trani Launches a Cross-Continental Parasite Sleuthing Mission to Map the Parasitic Helminths of Atlantic Forest Felids

When parasite biologist Cecilia Trani stands beside a muddy highway in Misiones, the body of every cat she recovers—whether a jaguar, ocelot, or neighborhood pet—becomes a clue to the hidden web of helminths linking the Atlantic Forest with our own backyards. This year she is transforming those clues into a cross-continental campaign that unites Argentina’s Subtropical Biology Institute, Brown University, and a grassroots network of rangers and veterinarians. The whole region is watching 🤩​

Cecilia Trani supervising the capture and handling of a coati for parasite surveillance at HelmCamp in Argentina

Inside a Year of Conservation at the Kartzinel Lab

Conservation science is changing fast—but the realities of how our work gets done are rarely shared. To mark the end of 2025, the Kartzinel Lab published its first Annual Report to openly document what it takes to connect modern genomic tools with the front lines of conservation: crossing landscapes, institutions, and communities amid growing uncertainty for scientific research.

From Data to Decisions: A Theory of Change for Conservation Science

Conservation science is often judged by its outputs—papers published, datasets generated, tools released. But conservation outcomes are not produced by academic activity alone. They emerge from a longer causal chain of events that connect research with real-world decisions about how we engage with the natural world.

Kartzinel Lab Postdoc Ezequiel Vanderhoeven, DVM, Ph.D. (left), works with a non-profit to facilitate a jaguar capture / translocation in Argentina. Photo: Proyecto Yaguareté

Alumni Spotlight: Bethan Littleford-Colquhoun (Postdoc 2020-2025)

Dr. Bethan Littleford‑Colquhoun was a postdoctoral researcher in the Kartzinel Lab (2020–2025) and a key driver of our NSF-funded Yellowstone wildlife research program in collaboration with the National Park Service. Her work uses dietary DNA metabarcoding and microbiome ecology to understand how wild herbivores respond to seasonal change and migration. She is now a faculty member in Microbiomics at the University of Bath.

Reconstructing 10,000 Years of Caribou Diets from Melting Yukon Ice Patches

Dr. Carson Hedberg and team on an expedition to the Gladstone Ice Patch

A prestigious NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Office of Polar Programs that was awarded to Carson Hedberg is powering a new Kartzinel Lab project in the Yukon: using ancient DNA preserved in towering alpine ice patches to reconstruct thousands of years of change in caribou diets since the end of the last Ice Age. By sequencing genetic traces of food that have been locked inside caribou dung and literally frozen in time, Carson is asking how these animals have weathered past climate shifts—and what this can tell us about prospects for their future.

Metabarcoding vs Microhistology: Comparing Dietary Analysis Methods

At First Bite: Why Do Animal Diets Matter?  Understanding what animals eat is central to ecology, evolution, and conservation. Diets shape species interaction networks, how energy flows through food webs, and what animals can do when environments change. For decades, ecologists have inspected animal scats using microscopes to identify what they have been eating. Today, DNA-based approaches offer a powerful alternative. So how do these two methods stack up—and when should you use each?

Savanna elephant eating from the understory at Mpala Research Centre in Kenya. Photo credit: Tyler Kartzinel

Do undergraduate research in the Kartzinel Lab at Brown

Wildlife Molecular Parasitology: From Taxonomy to DNA in Costa Rica @HelmCamp2026

Students of HelmCamp learn to analyze DNA from wildlife parasites Deadline to Apply: March 22, 2026

Field ecologists and conservation biologists increasingly rely on molecular tools to understand the hidden dynamics of wildlife health and biodiversity. Our lab is pioneering the next generation of strategies in Molecular Parasitology. In 2026, we are pleased to be co-presenting a unique opportunity to gain these skills through the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) in Costa Rica. This will be the second installment of our "HelmCamp" field course: Wildlife Molecular Parasitology: Taxonomy to DNA.

Study: New England is key to survival of diamondback terrapins

First large-scale genetic study of diamondback terrapins across their northern range highlights urgent conservation needs as federal endangered species listing is considered.

Diamondback terrapin. Photo: Amanda Lyons

Story behind the science: Yellowstone wildlife diets

Rethinking how we classify animals based on what they eat—and what it means for wildlife management

Hannah Hoff awarded Blavatnik Family Graduate Fellowship

Outstanding scholarship & innovation in the life sciences. Hannah Hoff, PhD candidate in the lab, has accepted a Blavatnik Family Graduate Fellowship in Biology & Medicine at Brown University. This is a highly competitive and well-deserved honor. Hannah has helped lead our work in Yellowstone National Park since 2021.

Research highlight: Apportionment of Dietary Diversity in Wildlife published in PNAS (Hannah Hoff et al.)

Interview: DNA barcoding and conservation (Mongabay)

DNA sequencing to meet global biodiversity goals: Interview with Tyler Kartzinel

Research highlight: what parasites infect tropical wildlife?

Research highlight: gastrointestinal parasites of Costa Rican sloths (Ezequiel Vanderhoeven et al.)