Madelyn Houser
About
Dr. Madelyn Houser is a Research track Assistant Professor affiliated with the Center for Data Science in the School of Nursing. She is experienced in clinical, preclinical, and basic research and specializes in conducting reproducible analyses of large data sets such as those generated in omics studies.
Madelyn earned a BS in Biological Sciences with an honors concentration in Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology with additional coursework in microbiology at the University of Tennessee. She also worked full-time in laboratory research studying structure-function relationships in G protein-coupled receptors as well as the effects of climate change on an agricultural fungal pathogen. Madelyn then earned her Ph.D. in Immunology and Molecular Pathogenesis from Emory’s Laney Graduate School. Her dissertation demonstrated the potential for intestinal inflammation to contribute to the development of Parkinson’s disease. In studying the interactions of complex biological systems, Madelyn came to recognize the power of sophisticated computational research tools, and so she accepted a postdoc position with Dr. Vicki Hertzberg in the SON Center for Data Science where she trained in R programming, advanced statistical methods, and omics data analysis.
Madelyn handles data from numerous research projects on subjects ranging from mechanisms of heat-related illness and kidney disease in agricultural workers to gut-brain connections in ALS and Alzheimer’s disease to factors which contribute to symptom severity in Black individuals living with multiple chronic health conditions. Often her studies involve microbiome, metabolomics, and inflammation-related data, but she is fascinated by any research question that allows her to integrate her scientific knowledge and her analytical skillset to investigate complex physiological systems and their role in health and disease.

Areas of Expertise

Publications
Houser MC+, Mac V+, Smith DJ, Chicas RC, Xiuhtecutli N, Flocks JD, Elon L, Tansey MG, Sands JM, McCauley L, Hertzberg VS. Inflammation-related factors identified as biomarkers of dehydration and subsequent acute kidney injury in agricultural workers. Biol Res Nurs. 2021 May 21.
Houser MC, Tansey MG. The gut-brain axis: is intestinal inflammation a silent driver of Parkinson's disease pathogenesis? NPJ Parkinsons Dis. 2017 Jan 11;3:3.
Houser MC, Caudle WM, Chang J, Kannarkat GT, Yang Y, Kelly SD, Oliver D, Joers V, Shannon KM, Keshavarzian A, Tansey MG. Experimental colitis promotes sustained, sex-dependent, T-cell-associated neuroinflammation and parkinsonian neuropathology. Acta Neuropathol Commun. 2021 Aug 19;9(1):139.
Aho, V+, Houser MC+, Pereira PAB, Chang J, Rudi K, Paulin L, Hertzberg VS, Auvinen PG, Scheperjans F, Tansey MG. Relationships of gut microbiota, short-chain fatty acids, inflammation, and the gut barrier in Parkinson's disease. Mol Neurodegener. 2021 Feb 8;16(1):6.
Houser MC, Chang J, Factor SA, Molho ES, Zabetian CP, Hill-Burns EM, Payami H, Hertzberg VS, Tansey MG. Stool Immune Profiles Evince Gastrointestinal Inflammation in Parkinson's Disease. Mov Disord. 2018 May;33(5):793-804.

Teaching

Research

Awards
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Goldwater Scholarship