Jane Venezia

Biography

Jane Venezia is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She received her bachelor's degree from Case Western Reserve University, where she studied freshwater turtle basking patterns. For her master’s research at Eastern Michigan University, she investigated the breeding behavior of unisexual Ambystoma salamanders and their dependence on sympatric male salamanders for reproduction. During this time, she was also the instructor of record for an introduction to ecology course

Currently, Jane is pursuing a dual-title PhD in Ecology and Microbiome Science at Penn State University, advised by Dr. Molly Bletz. Her research examines the role protist predators play in amphibian skin microbiome community structure and function. The objective of this work is to understand how protist predators impact the ability of the microbiome to defend the host against the fungal pathogens Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) and potentially to incorporate predatory protists into disease mitigation solutions.