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Meet Michael Muehlenbein

Michaela and I are both biocultural anthropologists, which means we study interactions between biology and culture. My dissertation work looked at relationship between speaking in tongues among Apostolic Pentecostals and biological stress response. Similar to this tattoo study, I collected saliva samples to examine cortisol. However, I was also looking at alpha-amylase, rather than immunoglobulin A. Michaela conducted her dissertation research in American Samoa, collecting blood spots from mothers and measuring stress and Epstein-Barr markers in them and growth measures in babies. I trained to analyze saliva samples and have access to the Developmental Ecology and Human Biology lab at the University of Alabama to do the same in this study. Michaela has her own biomarker lab as well. So it may seem ironic that we collaborate with an immunologist on this study. I appreciate knowIng how to analyze biological samples because it improves my research design and understanding of how precise my analysis or that of others may or may not be. However, I find it more efficient to collaborate with others who specialize in biomarker to ensure the integrity of the science. In the first tattoo study, Our experience enables us to train students in biological methods, but we are humble enough to admit that others are better than us in the lab, where our skills are in fieldwork, research design, and writing (at least I’d like to think). I was lucky that my colleague Jason DeCaro had time to conduct the analyses, as he was trained by Carol Worthman at Emory and has extensive expertise. For our study last summer, we chose to send it to the consumer lab Salimetrics because we were in a hurry, but we are happy to announce that we are now collaborating with Michael Muehlenbein on this study.

Dr. Michael Muehlenbein

Michael is professor and chair of Anthropology at Baylor University, where he runs the Evolutionary Medicine Lab. He has a BA in Anthropology from Northwestern, MA in Anthropology and MS in Tropical Medicine from Tulane, and PhD in Biological Anthropology from Yale. Michael developed Laboratories for Evolutionary Medicine at four different institutions and field laboratories in three different countries. He has developed and validated noninvasive measures of adrenal and testicular activity for four different species, and multiple biomarkers for immunity in three different species. He has produced the largest dataset to date on health professionals' (medicine, veterinary medicine, nursing, and public health) opinions on religion and evolution; produced largest comparative dataset with over 6000 responses from tourists in Malaysia, Japan, South Africa, St. Kitts, and Gibraltar regarding zoonotic disease risk between humans and wild nonhuman primates at these locations.

Michael is also extensively published, including numerous articles outlining his assay development and use, as well as several texts, including one of my favorite, Human Evolutiuonary Biology.

Finally, Michael Is a big-time tattoo collector, so his inclusion as part of our team is more than justified. Learn more about Michael Muehlenbein via his Baylor webpage.

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About This Project

Our team studies cultural impacts on health, specifically those of tattooing on the immune system. We expand on our previous study that suggests tattooing may "inoculate" the immune system. Our research takes place among Polynesian tattooists, who retain some of the oldest and most extensive tattooing practices in the world. We will collect saliva samples from over 100 people receiving tattoos at the Northwest Tatau Festival to examine multiple immunological factors.

Blast off!

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