# NIH Reporter #5K99GM159248-02

Evolution and mechanisms of pathogen avoidance

**Recipient:** University of Virginia

**Award Amount:** $125,000.00
**Ceiling:** $125,000.00

**Awarded:** August 28, 2026

**Identifier:** 5K99GM159248-02

The project investigates how innate and learned avoidance behaviors help hosts defend against pathogens, and how these mechanisms evolve and work together. It uses a nematode-bacterial model system to study the genetic, neural, and behavioral basis of pathogen avoidance.

### Description

Research examining the evolutionary and mechanistic interplay between innate and learned pathogen avoidance, including their genomic and neural underpinnings, using Caenorhabditis elegans and Serratia marcescens.

[View original record](https://reporter.nih.gov/search/6baCKDp7ZEulW6R91k0BqA/project-details/11400386)