Banded mongoose

Banded mongoose
Two mongoose take an afternoon nap. This highly social species is threatened by a novel tuberculosis pathogen.

Wednesday 23 November 2016

Welcome Kelton Verble - New Masters Student in the Alexander Lab


Kelton's Bio
My research interests include wildlife conservation genetics, disease ecology, and population dynamic assessments. I earned my B.S. in Wildlife from Purdue University in May of 2016. As an undergraduate, I provided assistance for various research projects that introduced me to genetic analysis and disease surveillance techniques.


For the current project, I will be using microsatellite genotyping together with observational data to determine inbreeding, relatedness within and between banded mongoose (Mungos mungo) troops. I will also be estimating troop dispersal and fusion/fission events across a diverse landscape. The resulting outputs will be incorporated into infectious disease transmission models dealing with a novel, emerging tuberculosis pathogen (Mycobacterium mungi) infecting banded mongoose in Botswana.

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