Our lab studies how metabolism drives interactions between human host, microbiomes, and pathogens. We ask how cells and microbial communities use nutrients, exchange metabolites, and rewire metabolism during infection, colonization, and disease. A central focus of the lab is metabolic flux, i.e., the flow of metabolites through biochemical pathways within cells and between organisms.
We use a combination of experimental biology and quantitative approaches, including microbial culture, stable isotope tracing, GC-MS metabolomics, metabolite extraction, and metabolic modeling. Our current model systems include Candida albicans yeast-to-hyphae transition, Aspergillus fumigatus biofilm growth in response to hypoxia, and gut microbiota-based immunotherapy for colorectal cancer in mouse models.
Rotation students in the lab can expect to work on biologically rich questions at the interface of microbiology, microbial ecology, metabolism, and host-microbe interactions. Our lab offers a distinctive hybrid training environment that combines hands-on wet-lab experimentation with advanced computational approaches to study metabolism across spatial and temporal scales.