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R35 GM151045: Decoding Microbial Diversity

Diversity matters, but why? This 5-year NIH/NIGMS funded project seeks to understand how microbial diversity shapes the function of microbial communities with a particular focus on diversity within species.

Young Investigator Grant for Probiotics Research (YIGPRO)

Humans have a complicated relationship with the metals in our diet. Some are essential nutrients, others are extremely toxic, and many are both. The gut microbiome has been shown to modulate how metals are absorbed but relatively little is known about which microbes are involved and/or the relationship between the microbial metal-metabolizing enzymes and the fate of dietary metals. This project aims to increase our understanding of the role microbes play in the bioavailability of dietary metals and generate new probiotic strains to enhance beneficial metal absorption while preventing the absorption of toxic metals.

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R00 AI147165: Diet-microbe interactions modulating host energy balance

There is a bi-directional relationship between diet and microbes. This project seeks to understand how caloric restriction shapes the microbiome and how these changes alter permissibility to C. difficile. We are also investigating how asymptomatic carriage with C. difficile impacts host energy balance to shine light on what “pathogens” might be doing when they are not pathogens.