Microbes, Cities, and Culture: How My Research Bridges Biology and Anthropology

So sorry I’ve been away for so long—life got busy, but I’m excited to share something new!

Recently, I worked on a research project titled “Microbial Diversity and Immune Response: Linking Environmental Diversity to Allergy and Asthma Risk in Urban and Rural Populations.” The study explores how differences in microbial diversity between urban and rural environments might influence allergy and asthma risk, using IgE levels as a key immune biomarker.

At first glance, this might sound like strictly biology or public health—but the connections to anthropology are surprisingly deep.

Anthropology is, at its heart, the study of human beings in all their complexity: biologically, culturally, and environmentally. This research speaks directly to biological anthropology and medical anthropology by asking how our environments—shaped by culture, settlement patterns, and urbanization—affect our health. Urban spaces, with their sterilized and industrialized landscapes, tend to reduce microbial exposure. Rural spaces, by contrast, preserve microbial diversity that may help strengthen immune systems.

From an evolutionary anthropology perspective, this aligns with the “old friends” hypothesis: humans co-evolved with diverse microbes, and our immune systems may actually need that microbial contact to regulate properly. As urbanization accelerates globally, anthropology asks us to consider what happens when cultural choices—like city design, sanitation practices, or agricultural decline—disrupt ancient ecological relationships between humans and microbes.

From a cultural anthropology standpoint, the findings spark questions about inequality, too. Who has access to green spaces, farming communities, or environments rich in microbial life? How do cultural norms around cleanliness or “modern” living shape immune outcomes? This is where biology and culture intersect in fascinating, and sometimes troubling, ways.

In short, my project doesn’t just examine microbes and immune response—it highlights how anthropology helps us see the broader picture: the ways urbanization, cultural practices, and human-environment interactions shape our health at the biological level.

And here’s the link to my article, if you want to explore it further: My Research Article. I did it through Teens in Health, a nonprofit research program you can find by looking up Teens in Health Research.

I’m excited to keep exploring how science and anthropology overlap, especially in topics like urban health, environmental change, and human adaptation.