The Big Picture

I am combining metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to characterize the regional gut microbiome

The intestinal microbiome is an integral part of mammalian health - gut bacteria provide many beneficial functions to their hosts and have been associated with numerous health and disease states. Many of these effects are localized to particular regions of the intestinal tract due to differences in environment and physiological function which select for certain bacterial populations and activity, but studies of the gut microbiome tend to focus on the bacteria found in feces. I am leveraging high-throughput sequencing and multiple ‘omics techniques to study the regional ecology of the gut microbiome in more detail, in both the mouse and human models.