Professor
Center for Metabolic and Liver Diseases
We live in the microbial world! Indeed, our body provides an ecological niche for myriad diverse bacteria. Among them are benign (and even beneficial) commensals comprising most notably the human gut microbiome, but also sporadic invaders, including deadly bacterial pathogens.
Therefore, one of the most important trades we need to master to live a long and healthy life is how to support and nurture the “good guys,” while fighting and conquering the “bad guys.” We use microbial genomics-driven approach to gain fundamental understanding of host-microbial interactions and strive to pursue translational applications of this understanding to address this global challenge.
In my work, we apply an in silico reconstruction of metabolic pathways to predict microbiome-wide metabolic capabilities and nutritional requirements from genomic and metagenomic data. This enables a rational design of nutritional supplements to support healthy microbial balance, promote beneficial microbes (e.g., to enhance immune function) and suppress detrimental species (e.g., those linked to cardiovascular risk).
In the realm of bacterial pathogens, we use a combination of experimental evolution and genomics to explore mechanisms of antibiotic resistance, which is a rapidly emerging threat jeopardizing all aspects of anti-infective therapy developments. In addition to providing fundamental insights, our integrated approach opens translational opportunities for genomics-based antibiotic stewardship, optimization of therapeutic regimens and discovery of novel antimicrobial.