About my research:
My research group combines large-scale computational and experimental approaches to understand the biological role of uncultured, gut-associated bacteria, and to explore their antimicrobial potential.
Our main areas of focus are:
- Applying large-scale (meta)genomics techniques to investigate health-associated features of the uncultured microbiome.
- Develop targeted methods to cultivate novel members of the gut microbiome and enable further mechanistic investigations.
- Combine in silico predictions with experimental validation to discover new gut-derived compounds with antimicrobial activity against priority pathogens.
By providing an integrated view of the physiology and functions of the commensal microbiome, we seek to improve our understanding of their role in human health and open new avenues to develop innovative therapeutic applications.
Key Projects, Countries, and Partners:
Project: Understanding the beneficial role and antimicrobial potential of novel human gut bacteria (current)
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Main partners: Cinzia Cantacessi (University of Cambridge, UK); Julian Parkhill (University of Cambridge, UK); Lucy Weinert (University of Cambridge, UK); Florian Hollfelder (University of Cambridge, UK); Trevor Lawley (Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK)
Project: Latinbiota - Uncovering the gut microbiome of Latin America (current)
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Main partners: Gregorio Iraola (Institut Pasteur, Uruguay); Trevor Lawley (Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK)
Project: Expanding our understanding of the human skin microbiome (current)
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Main partners: Julie Segre (NIH, United States); Rob Finn (EMBL-EBI, UK)
Project: Using large-scale metagenomics to investigate the prevalence and distribution of opportunistic pathogens in the healthy human microbiome (current)
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Main partner: Philippe Glaser (Institut Pasteur, France)
Project: Characterizing the human gut archaeome at high resolution (past)
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Main partners: Christine Moissl-Eichinger (BioTechMed, Austria); Ruth Schmitz (Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Germany); Simonetta Gribaldo (Institut Pasteur, France)
Project: Creating a unified resource of the human gut microbiome (past)
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Main partners: Rob Finn (EMBL-EBI, UK); Nikos Kyrpides (JGI, United States); Nicola Segata (University of Trento, Italy); Phil Hugenholtz (Australian Centre for Ecogenomicss, Australia)
