microbiota Archives
Byndloss selected for Burroughs Wellcome Fund infectious disease award
Jun. 7, 2023—Vanderbilt's Mariana Byndloss, DVM, PhD, is one of eight Burroughs Wellcome Fund 2023 Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease.
COVID alters respiratory microbiota
Apr. 25, 2023—COVID-19 infection alters the microbes of the upper respiratory tract for at least several weeks, and such disturbances could impact disease severity and be targets for therapeutic interventions.
Mathers Foundation award supports study of bacterial physiology
Mar. 23, 2023—Vanderbilt's Wenhan Zhu, PhD, has received a three-year award from the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation to support his research that aims to answer a fundamental question about bacterial physiology and engineer probiotics to improve gut inflammatory diseases.
Gut microbiota and lung fibrosis
Feb. 6, 2023—Microorganisms residing in the gut influence the severity of lung fibrosis in mouse models, suggesting that modifying the gut microbiota may offer therapeutic benefit for patients.
Invasive strep can defy zinc toxicity
Feb. 28, 2022—Vanderbilt researchers find that invasive Group B Streptococcus strains, a significant risk to pregnant patients and infants, can grow in presence of toxic zinc levels.
Salmonella overcomes host resistance
Jan. 13, 2022—The invading pathogen Salmonella, a common cause of food poisoning, can change its metabolism to overcome host resistance to its colonization.
Oral microbes and gastric cancer
Dec. 13, 2021—Studies in three large population cohorts that include Asian, African American and European American people support a role for the oral microbiota — the collection of microbial species in the mouth — in gastric cancer development.
Who’s who in the respiratory landscape
Nov. 15, 2021—A metatranscriptomics method developed by Vanderbilt researchers simultaneously characterizes viruses, microbiome and host response in nasal swabs, opening opportunities to explore molecular interactions directly in clinical samples.
Study reveals missing link between high-fat diet, microbiota and heart disease
Aug. 12, 2021—A high-fat diet disrupts the biology of the gut’s inner lining and its microbial communities — and promotes the production of a metabolite that may contribute to heart disease, according to a study published Aug. 13 in the journal Science.
Probiotic protection
Mar. 4, 2021—A probiotic factor given early in life to mice prevented intestinal inflammation in adulthood, providing a rationale for probiotic intervention in individuals at high risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease.
Microbial RNA and rheumatoid arthritis
Jan. 11, 2021—Small RNAs — short stretches of genetic material — from microbes may be playing a role in rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.
Preserving gut mucus architecture
Oct. 20, 2020—A new method that keeps microbes and gut cells together will be useful for studies of complex host-microbe interactions and for analysis of clinical specimens.
