Sterling Wright
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850 N 5th St Phoenix, AZ 85004
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Mail code: 9020Campus: Tempe
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Sterling Wright is currently working with Dr. Corrie Whisner in the College of Health Solutions. Working with her, he is interested in understanding the relationship between sociocultural interactions and human health by studying their effects on the maternal and infant gut microbiome. Specifically, he is a key member in analyzing multiomics data for the SnuggleBug project. Prior to coming to ASU, he completed his PhD in Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University (2024). His doctoral research also focuses on the oral microbiome and how it intersects with human health. During his PhD, he analyzed hundreds of ancient oral microbiomes from Romania, Serbia, Georgia, Portugal, and England. He was a National Geographic Early Career Scholar.
- Ph.D. Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University 2024
- M.A. Anthropology, University of Oklahoma 2019
- B.A. Classical Archaeology, University of Texas at Austin 2016
- B.S. Psychology, University of Texas at Austin 2016
Oral microbiome, gut microbiome, ancient DNA, anthropology, archaeology, health, data science
Whisner Lab
2024 Wright, S.L.*, Rayfield, K.M., Singleton, R.R., Hughes, K., Soficaru, A., Creţu, C., Huang, L., Wu, S., Reinberger, K.L., Rabinowitz, A. and Hofman, C.A., 2024. Ancient DNA and paleoproteomic analysis on Roman Imperial-era individuals from Histria, Romania. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 56, p.104510.
2024 Eisenhofer R., Wright, S. L.*, and Weyrich L. S. “Benchmarking a targeted gene enrichment approach to reconstruct ancient microbial communities.” PeerJ. doi: 10.7717/peerj.16770.
2023 Wright, S. L.*, Știrbu, Franceska-Cristina, “Exchanging genes and goods: How ancient DNA can potentially illuminate complex mobility patterns in the Black Sea region.” Centrul de Istorie Comparată a Societăţilor Antice.
2023 Gancz, A.S., Wright, S.L. and Weyrich, L.S., 2023. Ancient human dental calculus metadata collection and sampling strategies: Recommendations for best practices. American Journal of Biological Anthropology. (10.1002/ajpa.24871).
2023 Gancz, A.S., Farrer, A.G., Nixon, M.P., Wright, S. L., Arriola, L., Adler, C., Davenport, E.R., Gully, N., Cooper, A., Britton, K. and Dobney, K., 2023. Ancient dental calculus reveals oral microbiome shifts associated with lifestyle and disease in Great Britain. Nature Microbiology, 8(12), pp.2315-2325.
2021 Gancz A, Wright, S. L., et al. “The Millions of Microbial Reasons You Need to Brush Your Teeth.” Frontiers for Young Minds. http://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2021.605224.
2021 Farrer, A. G., Wright S.L., et al. “Effectiveness of Decontamination Protocols When Analyzing Ancient DNA Preserved in Dental Calculus.” Scientific Reports 11(1). Nature Publishing Group: 7456. http://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86100-w
2021 Wright, S. L.*, Keith Dobney, and Laura S. Weyrich. “Advancing and Refining Archaeological Dental Calculus Research Using Multiomic Frameworks.” STAR: Science & Technology of Archaeological Research 7(1). Routledge: 13–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/20548923.2021.1882122
- “Using the ancient DNA in dental calculus to understand the effects of urbanization across the Black Sea region”, Annual Meeting for Archaeological Institute of America, Chicago, Illinois, 2024.
- “Quantifying the effects of urbanization on the health of ancient populations with the oral microbiome,” 4th International World of Microbiome Conference, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2023.
- “Quantifying the effects of urbanization on the health of ancient populations with the oral microbiome,” 10th Meeting of the International Society for Biomolecular Archaeology (ISBA10), Tartu, Estonia, 2023.
- “Navigating the Landscape of Authentication Tools in Ancient Metagenomics: Towards Establishing Common Practices,” SPAAM5 Meeting (Standards, Precautions, and Advances in Ancient Metagenomics), Tartu, Estonia, 2023.
- “Exchanging genes and goods: How ancient DNA can illuminate complex mobility patterns in the Black Sea region,” 11th Annual Session of the Centre for Comparative History of Ancient Societies, online, 2023.
- “The Ancient Oral Microbiome in the Caucasus,” 92nd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists, Reno, NV, 2023.
- “Exploring the Biomolecular Preservation at Histria, a Greco-Roman site along the Danubian Frontier,” 1st International Congress on Roman Bioarchaeology, Virtual, 2022.
- “The Ancient Oral Microbiome in the Caucasus,” 87th Annual Meeting for the Society for American Archaeology, Chicago, IL, 2022.
- “Removing the Unwanted: Comparing Decontamination Protocols for Ancient Dental Calculus Research,” SciX 2021 Conference, Providence, RI, 2021.
- “The integrity of biomolecules across the oral matrix at Histria, Romania,” 86th Annual Meeting for the Society for American Archaeology, 2021.
- “The integrity of biomolecules across the oral matrix at Histria, Romania,” 85th Annual Meeting for the Society for American Archaeology, 2020. *cancelled due to COVID19 pandemic.
- “Biomolecular Preservation in Dental Calculus from the Teotihuacan Ritual Landscape,” 84th Annual Meeting for the Society for American Archaeology, 2019.
- “Exploring the biological heritage of enslaved people at James Madison’s Montpelier through ancient DNA analysis,” 83rd Annual Meeting for the Society for American Archaeology, 2018.
- “The Long and Complicated Relationship between Humans and Infectious Diseases,” 118th Annual Meeting for the Archaeological Institute of America, 2017.
- “The Long and Complicated Relationship between Humans and Infectious Diseases,” Eta Sigma Phi’s Undergraduate Research Symposium for the Classics Department at the University of Texas at Austin, 2016.
- “The Long and Complicated Relationship between Humans and Infectious Diseases,” University of Texas at Austin’s Research Week, 2016.
- “Six Degrees of Cyrus: Applying Network Analysis to Herodotus,” Texas Digital Humanities Consortium, 2014.
Society for American Archaeology
American Association for Biological Anthropology
Archaeological Institute of America
American Institute of Southeastern European Studies
Bioinformatics and Data Analysis Intern at IDEXX