Research

The mammalian gut microbiota is a complex community of microbes shaped by diet, microbial competition and host factors. Sequencing surveys of human gut microbiota samples have shown the extreme diversity of these communities, as well as correlated aspects of the microbiota with a range of human conditions. Disruption to gut microbiota structure is linked to susceptibility to infectious and chronic diseases.

Microbiome research in the Wolf Lab encompasses two areas: bacterial metabolism of dietary ingredients and microbiota-mediated protection against infectious disease (including Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Shigella). We combine human microbiome data, laboratory models, and computational analyses to ask questions about the role of diet, microbial competition, and host factors in gut microbiome structure and function.

Funding

NIH NIGMS

NIH NIAID

UCSF Center for Tuberculosis

UC-HBCU Initiative

Koret-UC Berkeley-Tel Aviv University Initiative in Computational Biology