Research
Research at the Washburn CHAOS Lab doesn't stop when the fieldwork ends. This is where samples become datasets, datasets become discoveries, and discoveries become publications, presentations, conservation strategies, and new questions. Browse our research sites to see what we've sampled, what we've learned so far, who helped make it possible, and where the science is headed next.
Sharing Science
The best science doesn't live behind a paywall or hide in a spreadsheet on someone's hard drive. This page is our way of sharing discoveries as they happen. You'll find visual summaries of what we've found, links to publications and released datasets, and updates from projects across the lab. If you're a volunteer wondering what came from the mud you scooped, a landowner curious about your site, or a scientist looking for preliminary results or collaboration opportunities, this is your invitation to dig in. And if you need more information, additional samples, access to a site, or want to work together, reach out.
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People involved
Sites Sampled
Explore Our Research Locations
Crystal Onyx Cave
Show Cave
Barren County, Kentucky, USA
Diamond Caverns
Show Cave
Barren County, Kentucky, USA
Brock's Cave
Privately Managed Cave
Pulaski County, Kentucky, USA
Floracliff Nature Sanctuary
Landslide Slopes
Fayette County, Kentucky, USA
Fossil Cave
Privately Managed Cave
Pulaski County, Kentucky, USA
Edmonson County Cave A
Conservation Cave
Edmonson County, Kentucky, USA
Lone Star Preserve
Conservation Cave
Bonnieville County, Kentucky, USA
Mundy's Landing
Floodplain
Woodford County, Kentucky, USA
Hidden River Cave
Show and Conservation Cave
Hart County, Kentucky, USA
CHAOS Research Divisions
Behold the three pillars of CHAOS, where our research begins, and the noise of discovery never stops. Science doesn’t whisper here, it roars.
Metabolomic
Arsenal
Life under pressure makes weird chemistry. HAVOC studies bioactive compounds, metabolites, and molecular interactions produced across environmental systems to uncover new applications in health, industry, and environmental science.
Microbial
Upheaval
Life adapts, reorganizes, collapses, recovers, and occasionally does something completely unhinged. MAYHEM investigates microbiomes across changing natural and human-impacted systems and how those changes affect ecosystems and health.
Geologic
Crucible
Before there were microbiomes, metabolites, or ecosystems, there was geology. CONAN investigates the geochemistry and geochronology that shape Earth systems, resources, and the conditions that drive biological and chemical function.
Scientific Publications: Abridged
Complements from the Male Reproductive Tract
Everyone’s heard of sperm, but did you know the entire male reproductive system runs an immune ops campaign to keep them safe? This review dives into the overlooked role of complement proteins — nature’s molecular bouncers — guarding the goods from testis to semen, and calls out just how much we still don’t know about their backstage roles in fertility and immune regulation.
Sertoli Cells Express Accommodation, Survival, Immunoregulatory Factors when Exposed to Human Serum
Pig Sertoli cells just casually survive human complement attacks with no immunosuppressants — so we asked: what’s their secret? Turns out, these testicular legends rewire their gene expression when exposed to human serum, flipping switches on immune regulation, survival, and accommodation pathways. We found 62 genes throwing down in response and spotlighted key players like CCL2 and A20. Bonus: this xenograft survival story was so badass, it landed the cover.
Supplementation of a Single Species Probiotic Does Not Affect Diversity and Composition of the Healthy Adult Gastrointestinal Microbiome
Turns out popping a single-species probiotic for 30 days doesn’t shake up your gut party if you’re already healthy—microbiomes stayed chill, no matter the pills. This preliminary data suggests your Bifidobacterium supplement might just be taking a scenic ride through your system without leaving much of a trace.
Metabolomic And Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) Changes During 24-hour Water-only Fast In The FEELGOOD Clinical Crossover Trials
Skip food for 24 hours and your body doesn't just grumble—it starts making biochemical power moves. In this study, intermittent fasting dropped TMAO levels (a known CAD villain), shifted over two dozen metabolites, and triggered short-term changes in amino acids and urea that hint at metabolic reprogramming. Sure, things bounce back after you eat, but this data suggests even brief fasting hits the system like a dress rehearsal for long-term health gains, reduced disease risk, and maybe even a longer, sharper life.
Thisis where the data hits the page. These are the publications born from fieldwork, fire, and a whole lot of late nights with microbes and metal. This is just a taste of our work—wanna see it all? Smash that Unleash the Papers button.
Geohealth in Kentucky
This paper tears into traditional geohealth—the raw, sometimes uncomfortable reality that the geology around us can quietly shape disease risk, environmental exposure, and community resilience. Using Kentucky’s karst landscapes, legacy mining, flooding, radon, and microbial ecosystems as case studies, it shows how Earth systems, biology, and human health collide—and why understanding the ground beneath us isn’t academic curiosity, it’s survival science.
Kentucky Microbiome Map and Dataset
This dataset and interactive map expose Kentucky’s environment as a living system—tracking microbes, water quality, and landscape conditions across space instead of pretending health risks stop at county lines. Together, they turn raw field data into something you can see, explore, and interrogate, showing how geology, biology, and human activity overlap in ways that directly matter for public health, environmental risk, and real-world decision making.
Microbial Load and Composition of IUD String Correlates with Symptomatic Removals in Parous Women
Some IUDs get removed for pain, bleeding, or inflammation, so we took a look at what was actually living on the strings. Symptomatic removals showed a higher overall bacterial load and a tilt toward non-Lactobacillus taxa, while asymptomatic removals stayed comparatively low-key. Lactobacillus did not disappear, but it also was not running the show alone. Same device, different microbial crowd. The takeaway is simple: the IUD string is an active host–microbe interface, not a passive piece of plastic.
Washburn CHAOS Lab
Science is metal. Science is feral. Science is CHAOS.
director@washburnchaoslab.com
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complex host and abiotic systems
@washburnchaoslab
Feral scientists exploring hostile systems, unstable environments, and the chemistry shaping what survives there.