Andrew Monteith, an assistant professor of microbiology in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been named a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences—an early-career honor that recognizes promising scientists and supports bold, high-impact research. Scholars receive four years of funding to explore cutting-edge research uncovering insights into human health and disease.
The award was granted in support of a concept that Monteith and his team believe has been overlooked in many models of infection and inflammation: heat, particularly in the form of fever and localized hot spots within the body. Many laboratory models study infection under standard housing or culture conditions that either fail to capture fever or actively suppress it, even though fever and tissue-level changes in temperature are common features of human disease. Monteith’s team is developing experimental systems that incorporate those heat signals, allowing researchers to ask how fever-range temperatures and localized heating change immune cell behavior, inflammation, and the body’s ability to fight infection.