Contact Information
607 S. Matthews Ave.
M/C 148
Urbana, IL 61801
Office Hours
Research Interests
Evolution of primate immunity, innate immunity, severe bacterial infections, sepsis, plague, Toxoplasma, host-pathogen interactions, immunogenomics, evolutionary medicine
Research Description
My research addresses the physiological consequences of the human experience and evolutionary past, particularly those that affect innate immune system function. Current projects focus on the functional divergence and diversification of primate immune systems, how past epidemics affect present day immune function diversity and how life experienceaffects the innate immune response.
Education
2012, PhD, City University of New York Graduate Center, Anthropology
Courses Taught
ANTH 241 - Human Variation and Race
ANTH 499 - Topics in Anthropology (Evolution and Ecology of Immune Systems)/Evolutionary Immunology
ANTH 249 - Evolution and Human Disease
ANTH 499 - Topics in Anthropology (Anthropological Functional Genomics lab)
ANTH 499 - Topics in Anthropology (Anthropological Functional Genomics lab)
ANTH 499 - Topics in Anthropology (Anthropological Functional Genomics lab)
Additional Campus Affiliations
External Links
Honors & Awards
2013-2015 Quebec Network of Applied Genetic Medicine (RGMA) Fellow
Recent Publications
Brinkworth, J. F., & Babbitt, C. C. (2018). Immune system promiscuity in human and nonhuman primate evolution. Human biology, 90(4), 251-269. https://doi.org/10.13110/humanbiology.90.4.01
Gassen, J., Prokosch, M. L., Makhanova, A., Eimerbrink, M. J., White, J. D., Proffitt Leyva, R. P., ... Hill, S. E. (2018). Behavioral immune system activity predicts downregulation of chronic basal inflammation. PloS one, 13(9), [e0203961]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0203961
Brinkworth, J. F. (2017). Infectious disease and the diversification of the human genome. Human biology, 89(1), 47-65. https://doi.org/10.13110/humanbiology.89.1.03
Pai, A. A., Baharian, G., Pagé Sabourin, A., Brinkworth, J. F., Nédélec, Y., Foley, J. W., ... Barreiro, L. B. (2016). Widespread Shortening of 3’ Untranslated Regions and Increased Exon Inclusion Are Evolutionarily Conserved Features of Innate Immune Responses to Infection. PLoS genetics, 12(9), [e1006338]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1006338
Snyder-Mackler, N., Sanz, J., Kohn, J. N., Brinkworth, J. F., Morrow, S., Shaver, A. O., ... Tung, J. (2016). Social status alters immune regulation and response to infection in macaques. Science, 354(6315), 1041-1045. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah3580