M. Eric Benbow
Associate Professor
Insect - Microbe interactions in aquatic ecology, forensics, and human health.
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As a community ecologist, Benbow is studying how complex communities (e.g., aquatic insects or microbes) change, are distributed and can be used in various applications in medicine, disease and environmental management. Within entomology and aquatic ecology, his lab asks three general questions: 1) Is insect fitness influenced by the community of microbes living in or on them?; 2) What are the ecological interactions of insects with the microbial communities associated with their food resources?; ... and, 3) How can this information be used to inform resources management, human health and forensics? With a joint appointment in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, his lab seeks to answer these insect-microbe questions for translation into human health applications in addition to environmental health. Given the rich history of research in insect-microbe interactions that has focused on vectoring pathogens and co-evolved symbionts, coupled with the advanced ability to identify culturable and non-culturable bacteria using high throughput sequencing, a new generation of inquiry into the importance of the insect microbiome and their interactions in nature has tremendous potential for insect science. His research has recently been funded by the National Science Foundation, United State Forest Service and the National Institute of Justice, with previous funding received from the National Institutes of Health and United State Geological Survey.
Read MoreEducation
University of Dayton: Ph.D., Aquatic Biology | 1999
University of Dayton: B.S., Biology | 1994
Selected Press
MSU Forensic Entomologist Helping to Solve Cold Case
Forensic Magazine | 2019-01-18
“They took me to the lake and showed me the evidence collected: clothing, photos, autopsy report,” said Benbow. “I called around to colleagues, and we all agreed the lack of insect evidence was peculiar. If the body’s been in water for nearly three weeks, everything we know indicates it should be colonized by aquatic insects. When the body floated, it should have been colonized by terrestrial insects, unless the body only floated for a day or so. Then maybe you don’t see mature insects, but you should probably see eggs or maggots.”
MSU forensic entomologist lends expertise to 'Smiley Face Killers' TV show
Lansing State Journal | 2019-01-18
Benbow was recently tapped to help a team of retired detectives investigate a sinister but widely disputed theory: that at least 45 college-age men found drowned across the country were actually murdered by a group the detectives call the Smiley Face Killers, named for graffiti found near the drowning sites.
In Every Murder, There Are Thousands of Tiny Witnesses
Tonic | 2017-05-26
The most basic way to answer that is to identify the species of insect and see how far through its life it has gotten. Development depends on many factors like temperature and climate, and is different for each species, says Eric Benbow, a forensic entomologist at Michigan State University. Benbow did his PhD studying the life cycle of insects in Hawaiian streams, and how humidity, moisture, and temperature affect how fast they grow.
Meet the "Living Dead": Forensic Scientists' New Weapon
BBC | 2017-03-20
“Our hope is that we will eventually be able to fine-tune this microbial clock, so that we can predict time of death to within several hours, rather than plus or minus two to three days,” adds Eric Benbow at Michigan State University in East Lansing, who collaborates with Tomberlin. So far, they’ve identified five potential core species, and they are now trying to validate this with further swabs taken from recently deceased humans...
