Humans and other mammals are colonized by complex populations of microbes that constitute the microbiota. Some commensal bacteria enhance immune defenses by inducing host expression of antimicrobial factors while others secrete antimicrobial molecules that inhibit pathogens. We study interactions between pathogenic and beneficial bacteria and their mammalian hosts. Our laboratory’s research focuses on a wide range of commensal bacteria that have been characterized at the genomic, proteomic and metabolomic level and we are using gnotobiotic mice to test assembled commensal consortia for their ability to enhance resistance against pathogenic bacteria. Using these platforms, we have identified multiple novel mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance that can be exploited to reduce the risk of infection by highly antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
Our laboratory has worked closely with clinical groups to investigate the role of the microbiota in clinical outcomes. We have demonstrated that loss of microbiota diversity during allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation adversely impacts outcomes and have investigated the impact of microbiota composition on the risk of developing colitis during checkpoint blockade cancer immunotherapy.
University of California, San Diego
San Diego, California
- Medicine/Infectious Diseases
1990
Case Western School of Medicine
Cleveland, Ohio
MD - Medicine
1982
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, Ohio
BA - Biology
1977
Bifidobacteria metabolize lactulose to optimize gut metabolites and prevent systemic infection in patients with liver disease.
Bifidobacteria metabolize lactulose to optimize gut metabolites and prevent systemic infection in patients with liver disease. Nat Microbiol. 2023 Nov; 8(11):2033-2049.
PMID: 37845315
Virulence and genomic diversity among clinical isolates of ST1 (BI/NAP1/027) Clostridioides difficile.
Virulence and genomic diversity among clinical isolates of ST1 (BI/NAP1/027) Clostridioides difficile. Cell Rep. 2023 08 29; 42(8):112861.
PMID: 37523264
The TaxUMAP atlas: Efficient display of large clinical microbiome data reveals ecological competition in protection against bacteremia.
The TaxUMAP atlas: Efficient display of large clinical microbiome data reveals ecological competition in protection against bacteremia. Cell Host Microbe. 2023 Jul 12; 31(7):1126-1139.e6.
PMID: 37329880
High-resolution analyses of associations between medications, microbiome, and mortality in cancer patients.
High-resolution analyses of associations between medications, microbiome, and mortality in cancer patients. Cell. 2023 Jun 08; 186(12):2705-2718.e17.
PMID: 37295406
Corrigendum: A MALDI-TOF MS library for rapid identification of human commensal gut bacteria from the class Clostridia.
Corrigendum: A MALDI-TOF MS library for rapid identification of human commensal gut bacteria from the class Clostridia. Front Microbiol. 2023; 14:1208177.
PMID: 37283928
Assembling symbiotic bacterial species into live therapeutic consortia that reconstitute microbiome functions.
Assembling symbiotic bacterial species into live therapeutic consortia that reconstitute microbiome functions. Cell Host Microbe. 2023 04 12; 31(4):472-484.
PMID: 37054670
Plasma metabolites with mechanistic and clinical links to the neurovascular disease cavernous angioma.
Plasma metabolites with mechanistic and clinical links to the neurovascular disease cavernous angioma. Commun Med (Lond). 2023 Mar 03; 3(1):35.
PMID: 36869161
A MALDI-TOF MS library for rapid identification of human commensal gut bacteria from the class Clostridia.
A MALDI-TOF MS library for rapid identification of human commensal gut bacteria from the class Clostridia. Front Microbiol. 2023; 14:1104707.
PMID: 36896425
Questioning the fetal microbiome illustrates pitfalls of low-biomass microbial studies.
Questioning the fetal microbiome illustrates pitfalls of low-biomass microbial studies. Nature. 2023 01; 613(7945):639-649.
PMID: 36697862
Virulence and genomic diversity among clinical isolates of ST1 (BI/NAP1/027) Clostridioides difficile.
Virulence and genomic diversity among clinical isolates of ST1 (BI/NAP1/027) Clostridioides difficile. bioRxiv. 2023 Jan 12.
PMID: 36711955