Tory Hendry, PhD

Dr. Tory Hendry is a Research Scientist in the Department of Microbiology at Cornell University and work in her lab is broadly focused around understanding the evolution and ecology of bacteria interacting with hosts. She earned a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Michigan where she used comparative genomics and molecular evolutionary analyses to study the unculturable luminous symbionts of anomalopid flashlight fish. This background serves as a basis for current work in the lab, understanding the evolutionary consequences of host interactions for bacteria. Dr. Hendry gained postdoctoral experience at the University of Arizona and the University of California, Berkeley working on a tractable system of interactions between plant-associated bacteria and insects. Work in the Hendry lab continues to use genomic analyses and experiments with insect-microbe interactions as a model, particularly for understanding how these interactions shape the abundance and evolution of plant pathogens and agricultural pest insects.

In collaborations with the DEEPEND project Dr. Hendry will be will be sequencing the genomes of luminous symbionts from several deep sea ceratioid anglerfish species. She will use her experience with genomics in luminous symbionts to investigate genome evolution and the inferred ecology of these enigmatic and unculturable luminous bacteria.