Amberleigh E. Henschen
Assistant Professor Office: 2154 - Life Sciences BuildingEmail: aehenschen@eiu.edu
Education & Training
2018 Ph.D. in Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee
2011 B.S. in Biology, Creighton University
Frequently Taught Courses
BIO 3120 - Molecular and Cellular Biology
BIO 3520 - Animal Physiology
BIO 4954 - Ornithology
Research & Creative Interests
My research focuses on the variation in how individuals and populations of wild birds respond and adapt to novel pathogens, and how this variation affects reproductive success. In particular, I am interested in how immune response and physiological quality are related to male ornamentation in wild birds. I work in both the lab and the field and aim to interate questions about behavior, physiology, and genomics.
Publications
Recent Publications
Dunn, P.O., Sly, N.D., Freeman-Gallant, C.R., Henschen, A.E., Bossu, C.M., Ruegg, K.C., Minian, P. and L.A. Whittingham. 2024. Intraspecific differences in warbler plumage and mate choice are related to a putative inversion on the Z chromosome. Molecular Ecology.
Veetil, N.K., Henschen, A.E., Hawley, D.M., Melepat, B., Dalloul, R.A., Benes, V., Adelman, J.S., and M. Vinkler. 2024. Varying conjunctival immune response adaptations of house finch populations to a rapidly evolving bacterial pathogen. Frontiers in Immunology.
Henschen, A. E., Vinkler, M., Langager, M. M., Rowley, A. A., Dalloul, R. A., Hawley, D. M., & Adelman, J. S. 2023. Rapid adaptation to a novel pathogen through disease tolerance in a wild songbird. PLoS pathogens, 19(6), e1011408. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1011408.
Vinkler, M., Fiddaman, S. R., Těšický, M., O'Connor, E. A., Savage, A. E., Lenz, T. L., ...Henschen, A.E.,... & Westerdahl, H. 2023. Understanding the evolution of immune genes in jawed vertebrates. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. https://doi.org/ 10.1111/jeb.14181.
Sly, N. D., Freeman-Gallant, C. R., Henschen, A. E., Minias, P., Whittingham, L. A., & Dunn, P. O. 2022. Molecular parallelism in signaling function across different sexually selected ornaments in a warbler. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(8), e2120482119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2120482119.
Henschen A.E. and Adelman, J.S. 2019. What Does Tolerance Mean for Animal Disease Dynamics When Pathology Enhances Transmission? Integrative and Comparative Biology, 59: 1220-1230 https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icz065.
Recent Book Chapters
Henschen, A.E. and J.S. Adelman. “Avian Ecoimmunology.” Infectious Disease Ecology of Wild Birds. Eds. Dana Hawley, Jen Owen, Kate Huyvaert. Oxford University Press, 2021.
Owen, J.C., Adelman, J.S., and Henschen, A.E. “The nature of host- pathogen interactions.” Infectious Disease Ecology of Wild Birds. Eds. Dana Hawley, Jen Owen, Kate Huyvaert. Oxford University Press, 2021.
Office Hours
Mondays and Wednesdays 1:30-2:30 pm
Thursdays 9-11 am