Research Summary
The Turnbaugh lab is an interdisciplinary group of microbiome researchers committed to understanding host-associated microbes, reducing these complex microbial ecologies to molecular mechanism, and applying these lessons to improve the practice of medicine. We are currently focused on two major areas: pharmacology and nutrition. We use a variety of inter-disciplinary approaches ranging from the molecular (biochemistry, bacterial genetics, structural biology) to the organismal (gnotobiotic mice, conventional animals, and human cohorts) to the ecological (synthetic microbial communities and metagenomic sequencing).
Research Funding
July 1, 2020 - March 31, 2025 - Host-microbiome interactions shape the metabolic effects of ketogenic diets, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NIDDK, Sponsor Award ID: R01DK114034
September 1, 2019 - August 31, 2024 - Employing the gut microbiome to accelerate effective initiation of rheumatoid arthritis therapy, Co-Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NIAMS, Sponsor Award ID: R01AR074500
August 1, 2020 - July 31, 2024 - Establishing the feasibility of editing the human gut microbiome, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NCCIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01AT011117
March 1, 2016 - February 28, 2021 - Predicting and preventing drug metabolism by the human gut microbiome, Principal Investigator. Sponsor: NIH/NHLBI, Sponsor Award ID: R01HL122593
Education
Whitman College, B.A., 05/2003, Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology
Washington University in Saint Louis, Ph.D., 05/2009, Molecular Genetics and Genomics
Harvard University, Postdoctoral, 08/2014, Systems Biology