Tomasz Nowak, PhD

I’m a biological anthropologist exploring how evolutionary pressures, hormones, and life-history trade-offs shape human immune function—especially the ways women and men differ across the reproductive lifespan. To tackle these questions, I combine lab immunology with fieldwork, leveraging a toolkit that ranges from salivary bactericidal assays to multivariate statistics.

Growing up in Poland, I trained first in Public Health at Jagiellonian University (B.S. 2016), where a thesis on sibling dynamics and health sparked my fascination with evolutionary anthropology.

In 2018 I came to Baylor for doctoral work that fused life-history theory with laboratory immunology; my dissertation (Ph.D. 2025) examined estrogen-linked shifts in mucosal immunity and refined a saliva-based Bacteria Killing Assay. Alongside graduate studies I managed the Anthropology Core Lab and mentored students—experience that paved the way for my current postdoctoral post, which began in 2025.

Research in Progress

• Rapid mucosal immunity to pathogen cues – As PI, I track, minute-by-minute changes in salivary biomarkers and physiological responses.
• Long-COVID & allostatic load – A follow-up to the Waco COVID Survey links serology, stress physiology, and mitochondrial health in a community cohort (Co-PI).
• Salivary Bacteria Killing Assay – Ongoing optimization addresses end-of-run effects and scales the assay for field deployment.
• Samoan tatau project – With collaborators, I dissect endocrine and immune responses to traditional hand-tap tattooing, illuminating the biocultural physiology of pe‘a and malu.

Teaching & Mentoring

I currently teach the Research Lab course for anthropology majors and previously assisted in modern bioscience labs. My classes emphasize hands-on skill building—students leave comfortable with pipettes, ELISAs, statistical analysis, advanced lab equipment, and communication skills. Beyond coursework, I lead Baylor’s undergraduate research team, providing safety modules, statistics workshops, and individual mentoring that have yielded award-winning student posters and co-authored papers.

Key Recent Publications

1. Nowak T.J. & Muehlenbein M.P. Toward Understanding Sexual Immune Dimorphism in Humans. Frontiers in Immunology, 2025 (in press).
2. Gassen J.*, Nowak T.J.* et al. Unrealistic Optimism and Risk for COVID-19 Disease. Frontiers in Psychology 12, 2021.
3. Chandanathil M., Nowak T.J. et al. Waves of Endurance: Beta Brain Waves & Immune Adaptation in Transatlantic Rowers. Cureus 17(5), 2025.
4. Muehlenbein M.P., Nowak T.J. et al. Age-Dependent Links Between Disease Risk and Testosterone. Am. J. Men’s Health 17(2), 2023.
5. Muehlenbein M.P., Nowak, T.J. Exploring links between pathogen avoidance motivation, COVID‐19 case counts, and immune function. American Journal of Human Biology, 35(3), 2023
6. Lynn, C.D., Nowak, T. Tattooing as a phenotypic gambit. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 182(1), 2023