Our research integrates microbiology, biochemistry, and modern molecular approaches to understand how microbial communities shape the health of both hosts and their environments. We combine bioinformatics, culture-based methods, wet-lab, and multi-omic analyses to uncover the mechanisms by which microbial populations respond to ecological disturbances and contribute to host well-being and resilience.
Our work centers around three major themes:
Additionally, our work currently incorporates the following systems:
Our work centers around three major themes:
- Computational analysis of microbial genomes and populations following environmental, ecological, inflammatory, or disease-associated perturbations.
- Isolation and characterization of key microbial taxa using targeted culturing techniques.
- Mechanistic studies of microbial ecological succession and the dynamic interplay between microbiomes, their hosts, and surrounding environments.
Additionally, our work currently incorporates the following systems:
- Andropogon gerardii
- Arabidopsis thaliana
- Plant protoplasts
- HeLa cervical cancer cells
- Caco-2 cells - colorectal adenocarcinoma or colon tumor cells
- Colonoids - colon organoids derived from a healthy patient
- Various mouse models
- Single-cell isolates from both the human gut and plant rhizosphere
