From Liverworts to Ancient DNA: An Anthropology Major’s Nonlinear Path to Discovery

By Stephanie Godward, Communications and Marketing Director, College of Arts & Sciences 

Emma Smith loves working in the lab. 

Her own academic journey has shown the value of being flexible and open to new experiences, with a major in anthropology and a passion for ancient DNA, that now pairs well with a minor in biology stemming from her love of hands-on research. 

Initially beginning as a freshman biology major, she enjoyed all of her lab classes, but anything outside of that as a pre-med student at the time was more challenging and less engaging for her, especially as someone who lives with ADHD, she said. 

"I did fine grade-wise, but I didn't feel passionate about it, I guess I should say. My biggest thing with pre-med is I wanted to fix health disparities and things in our medical system where people were not being treated equally or properly. And it was just so obvious to me that it was such a broken system. So, I wanted to be on ethics boards or help make sure that patients are all being treated the way that they deserve to be, you know, in a way that's equitable.” 

That’s when one of her advisors suggested that she take an anthropology class – and everything clicked.  

“I took that first class and I fell in love with anthropology,” Smith said. “I had two years of biology under my belt, and I still love being in labs, and I love the connections I made there.” 

Utilizing this interdisciplinary approach, Smith recently participated in the Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP), investigating the presence of endophytic fungi in liverworts—ancient, non-vascular plants—with the potential to challenge existing plant phylogenies, which are current plant family trees.  

Through the SROP, Smith had the chance to work full-time in the lab, where she discovered a passion for DNA analysis and independent problem-solving. No longer just completing assigned tasks, Emma began troubleshooting experimental issues, contributing new ideas, and affirming her desire to pursue research long-term. 

She encouraged fellow students to pursue nonlinear paths for that very reason: to reap the benefits of a wide array of experiences, no matter the topic or field. 

“As far as interdisciplinary fields go, don't be scared or apprehensive to do a project that isn't exactly what you want to do,” she said. "My goal is to work with ancient DNA. I think ancient DNA is awesome. I love bones. I think it's so cool. But I'm working on a fungi project. And I learned about the research design process. I got skills in molecular; so don't be scared to do something in a department different than yours and in a subject that's a little bit different than yours and all that good stuff.” 

Through the SROP, she studied the liverwort Frullania eboracensis to determine if it hosts fungal endophytes and to identify them. From 352 liverwort tissue samples, 165 successfully grew fungi, representing 98 different morphotypes—32 of which were unique to liverworts. 

DNA sequencing confirmed at least one fungus, Coniochaeta, which is typically found in environmental and tissue samples. This discovery is significant because the order Porellales, which includes F. eboracensis, was thought to be free of endophytes.  

The findings challenge current plant family trees (phylogenies) and suggest more research is needed to understand the ecological relationships between fungi and bryophytes—non-vascular plants like liverworts that played a key role in the transition of plants from water to land. 

By giving anthropology a chance, and through her own experience in the SROP, Smith is now creating a career path that she can confidently say is her own. 

“I think it's important to put yourself out there and experience new things because who knows, maybe you’ll want to do that instead of what you went into doing in the first place,” she said.