Our intestines are home to a complex community of trillions of microorganisms...
...a community that is continuously exposed to the foods that we eat, the medicines that we take, and the hormones and other molecules that our bodies make. Studies using mice devoid of these microbes have shown us that these microbial communities - known as the microbiome - play critical roles in so many aspects of our health and physiology. These range from helping us extract nutrients from our diet to proper immune development to modulating our risk for various chronic diseases to many more! You could even think of the intestinal microbiota as our very own microbial organ.
We are interested in studying how the nutrients in our diet and the chemicals and hormones made by our bodies affect the functions and physiology of bacteria that naturally live in our guts and the foodborne pathogens we accidentally ingest. How do bacteria "see" these nutrients and signals? How do they respond? How do their responses affect our health? Our risk for infection and chronic disease?
Please visit our research page to learn more!
...a community that is continuously exposed to the foods that we eat, the medicines that we take, and the hormones and other molecules that our bodies make. Studies using mice devoid of these microbes have shown us that these microbial communities - known as the microbiome - play critical roles in so many aspects of our health and physiology. These range from helping us extract nutrients from our diet to proper immune development to modulating our risk for various chronic diseases to many more! You could even think of the intestinal microbiota as our very own microbial organ.
We are interested in studying how the nutrients in our diet and the chemicals and hormones made by our bodies affect the functions and physiology of bacteria that naturally live in our guts and the foodborne pathogens we accidentally ingest. How do bacteria "see" these nutrients and signals? How do they respond? How do their responses affect our health? Our risk for infection and chronic disease?
Please visit our research page to learn more!