Catie Kitrinos

Primate-associated microbiome, primate evolution

Catie Kitrinos is a doctoral student in Dr. Kamilar’s Comparative Primatology Lab at UMASS Amherst. She received a B.A. in Biology and a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Virginia and lived in Japan for two fantastic years before joining the UMass Anthropology Graduate Program.

Catie is interested in the commensal microbe communities colonizing various body regions in Kinda baboons and primates. She is particularly interested in the transmission of microbiota between Kinda baboons, bats, and the berries they share at Kasanka National Park in Zambia, as well as the health implications of this transmission. For her dissertation, she will be investigating microbial transmission between straw-colored fruit bats, Kinda baboons, and the fruits they both feed on during the bat’s roosting period.