Nov
08

Parasites and poop: All in a day’s work for Katrina Lohan

Katrina Lohan’s career has been defined by her love of three things—the ocean, DNA, and parasites—and her tolerance for one other: poop. Today, she combines all these elements at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, where she studies the parasites that infect wildlife in and around the Chesapeake Bay.

DecorativeKatrina’s story didn’t start on the water. Rather, she grew up in a completely different environment: a strip mall and parking lot-ridden suburb in Southern California. But she visited the ocean whenever she could. “I wasn’t the kid playing with bugs in my backyard. Instead, I wanted to go to the beach,” she told Eye on Science. She also wanted to live on ocean-front property so she could study dolphins. “Before I knew what a scientist was, I thought that if I wanted to study the ocean, I’d have to live near it…so I knew that someday, I’d need to live on the ocean.” Katrina’s desire carried her to school on Long Island, but it would be several years before Katrina could return to the ocean for good.

Lohan in blue T-shirt loads oysters into cooler

Katrina Lohan collecting oyster samples. (Photo courtesy Katrina Lohan)

In the meantime, her passion for parasites developed by accident. After graduate school, she wanted to study marine biology in Hawaii (because who wouldn’t want to live in Hawaii?) but her advisor sent her to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. The scientist said her collaborator, Robert Fleischer, Ph.D., who is the Center Head for what is now called the Center for Conservation Genomics, was performing research that would better suit Katrina’s interests. Dr. Fleischer was using DNA to study parasites in migratory birds. “I didn’t know anything about birds or parasites, but I figured DNA is DNA and all things have it, so it doesn’t matter what animal I study,” Katrina said. She left the lab with a love of parasites, but she never developed Dr. Fleischer’s passion for birds (still a bit of a sore spot for him.)

“Trying to study something inside something else that’s really small and hard to see…that really interested me,” Katrina told Eye on Science. “Parasites play a very big role in nature. They kill things we want to eat. They destroy ecosystems. They infect animals that, in turn, can infect us. They also have an out-sized role in how animals interact. Parasites compose as much as half of the living species on this planet, which means that when we talk about biodiversity, they play a very big role.” Katrina’s passion for parasites is unrelenting, even though studying parasites means spending a higher-than-average amount of time handling animal poop.

River otter scat (poop) in a petri dish

A sample of scat from a river otter awaits examination. (Photo courtesy Katrina Lohan)

Sometimes, parasites infect animals by being eaten (by living in prey that animals eat), and then the parasite’s DNA often ends up in the animals’ digestive tract and gets expelled with the rest of its waste. As a result, poop is a goldmine when it comes to studying parasites in nature. Eye on Science asked Katrina how she feels about having to dig through poop all the time. “I’m desensitized to it. I’m also a mom and I have dog. I thought my dog would desensitize me to poop and vomit, but then once you have kids and they’ve literally vomited all over you and you have to deal with diarrhea everywhere, the idea of poop is less of a thing. Now, talking about poop is second nature to me.”

Lohan and daughter Grace

Katrina Lohan shares her love of the ocean with her daughter, Grace, who is holding a nautilus shell. No word as to whether Grace also shares her mom’s interest in parasites. (Photo courtesy Katrina Lohan)

Katrina washes her hands a lot more than she used to. She also shared couldn’t help but tell me that people eat poop all the time without realizing it (it’s called fecal-oral transmission.) (Ed. Note: Well, now we’re obsessed with hand-washing. Thanks, Katrina.)

Despite her tolerance for sifting through scat samples, scientific research isn’t Katrina’s whole life. When she isn’t in the field or in the lab, you’ll likely find her reading historical fiction novels or running marathons, and sometimes more—her personal distance record is 30 miles. Although since having kids, she’s shortened those to half-marathons for the sake of time.

Opening doors for others

Katrina also mentors students whenever she can. “I once heard the phrase ‘we lift as we climb’ and I loved it.” She’s proud to lift students up as she climbs her own ladder at the Smithsonian. “I can’t help but use my privilege to help others who don’t have that privilege and who like science but don’t have an opportunity to experience it. It’s amazing to see how far some people have come.” Additionally, she doesn’t take her affiliation with the Smithsonian for granted. She wants to use her position to help others advance in their careers. “The Smithsonian name is really trusted. To have someone use that on their CV and to write letters of recommendation for them, I’ve seen that really open doors.”

Katrina’s advocacy doesn’t stop there. She also serves on panels related to gender equity in science. “It’s hard for me to pee off the side of a boat,” she shared as an example. “I’d rather jump in, frankly.” She told Eye on Science that people have thanked her for talking about these issues, but she doesn’t want to be thanked. “Why can’t we just talk about this stuff? Why can’t we discuss the issue of peeing off the side of a boat regardless of your gender?” she mused.

Why not, indeed?


Posted: 8 November 2023
About the Author:

With a doctorate in neuroscience, Ben is not only the Science Press Secretary for the Smithsonian, but also a brainiac scientist himself. When he's not sharing science trivia with everyone he knows and correcting the errors made by the Torch Editrix, you can find him riding his bike long distances, baking cookies, and working on obnoxiously large jigsaw puzzles.