Researchers Discover Potential Microbiome Links to Skin Aging
New analysis reveals how skin microbiome could be associated with wrinkles and skin health
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18 Center for Microbiome Innovation Faculty Members Named Most Highly Cited in the World
The Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) at University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) is proud to announce that 18 of our faculty members were included in Clarivate’s 2023 Highly Cited Researchers list. These researchers rank in the top 1% most cited in their respective field(s), representing their level…
Efficiently Evolving Phylogenetic Trees: Introducing a Scalable Approach to Constructing and Updating Phylogenies
Imagine trying to assemble a puzzle with an ever-increasing number of pieces that vary in clarity and detail. Just as you solve one small section, you step back and discover new pieces have spilled off the table and left you with shifting context, reshaping the task ahead. Evolutionary microbiologists face…
First-Ever Mycobiome Atlas Describes Associations between Cancers and Fungi
Poorly understood compared to bacteria and viruses, the new work opens the door to using tell-tale fungi as a diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic tool.
UC San Diego Receives $14M to Drive Precision Nutrition with Gut Microbiome Data
National Institutes of Health establishes Microbiome and Metagenomics Center at UC San Diego, part of new effort to predict individual responses to food and inform personalized nutrition recommendations
The Sum Exceeds Its Parts – Overall Dietary Patterns Have a Greater Influence on Microbiome Composition than Individual Foods
The foods we eat have a wide range of effects on our bodies. They provide energy and nutrients, affect our health, and even bring us pleasure. In addition, our diet influences the composition of our gut microbiome, which has a wide range of implications for our health. While the fact…
The Center for Microbiome Innovation Celebrates 17 Members on List of Highly Cited Researchers in 2021
The Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) at the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) is proud to announce that 17 of our members appear on the list of 2021 Highly Cited Researchers from Clarivate: Shane Crotty – Immunology Pieter Dorrestein – Cross-Field Jack Gilbert – Microbiology Chris Glass…
Researchers Develop CRISPR-based Rapid Diagnostic Tool for SARS-CoV-2
Blending experts from molecular genetics, chemistry and health sciences, researchers at the University of California San Diego have created a rapid diagnostic technology that detects SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The Proof is in the Poop
When early evidence emerged that people with COVID-19—whether or not they have symptoms—shed the virus in their stool, “the sewer seemed like the ‘happening’ place to look for it,” said Smruthi Karthikeyan, an environmental engineer and postdoctoral researcher who works in the lab of Rob Knight at UC San Diego…
Cat Bacteria Treats Mouse Skin Infection, May Help You and Your Pets As Well
Researchers identify a bacteria on healthy cats that produces antibiotics against severe skin infections; the findings may lead to new bacteriotherapies for humans and their pets
The Meaningful Marriage of Metabolism and Microbiome: How Metabolites and Bile Acids Might Influence the Detection and Treatment of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the leading cause of female infertility, affecting approximately 10% of reproductive-aged women. Moreover, women with the disorder often suffer from metabolic issues that can lead to type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Unfortunately, since PCOS is a complex genetic trait disorder,…
Students, Faculty and Staff Assemble Do-It-Yourself Air Filtration Boxes that Fight COVID-19 Spread
Filters will be used in campus classrooms, lecture halls and labs throughout campus, and donated to The Preuss School UC San Diego
THREE JACOBS SCHOOL UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS RANKED IN NATION’S TOP 10
The biocomputing, bioinformatics and biotechnology program, a multidisciplinary undergraduate offering supported by three UC San Diego divisions, including the Jacobs School of Engineering, was ranked first in the nation.
Do a Mom’s Medications Affect Her Breast Milk and Baby? New Center Investigates
UC San Diego School of Medicine awarded $6.1M to study effects of maternal antibiotic use on infant health in new collaborative research center funded by National Institutes of Health
Pondering Problems in Probing Profilers: Exploring the Challenges in Comparing Metagenomic Profilers
As with most nascent research fields, microbial metagenomics has grappled not just with the question of how to measure and contextualize data but how to develop and refine tools to perform those analyses. While many tools have been created and used effectively, benchmarking their performance has proven especially difficult. One…
These fridge-free COVID-19 vaccines are grown in plants and bacteria
Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed COVID-19 vaccine candidates that can take the heat. Their key ingredients? Viruses from plants or bacteria.
What Makes Blood Vessels Leaky: New Insights for Sepsis Therapeutics
Lab studies reveal protein HSP27’s role in blood vessel leakage, opening the possibility that therapeutically dialing its activity up or down might stabilize patients with sepsis
Vanquishing the Virus – Removing SARS-CoV-2 from Wastewater with Algae-based Microrobots
Since the early days of the pandemic, wastewater has played a vital role in the fight against SARS-CoV-2. While the virus primarily attacks the respiratory system, it replicates in the gastrointestinal tract, travels into stool, and eventually reaches sewage systems. This knowledge allowed researchers to devise a wastewater surveillance system…
IT’S NOT JUST SARS-COV-2: MOST RESPIRATORY VIRUSES SPREAD BY AEROSOLS
Conventional wisdom on viral disease transmission needs updating, international science team concludes
Massive Study Links Nearly 600 Genomic Regions to Self-Regulating Behaviors
Researchers have identified 579 locations in the human genome associated with a predisposition to self-regulation-related behaviors, including addiction and child behavioral problems.
Researchers Discover Hidden SARS-CoV-2 ‘Gate’ That Opens to Allow COVID Infection
Supercomputing-derived movies reveal details of deceptive sugar coating on spike protein, presenting new possibilities to block cell entry and infection
Most of UC San Diego’s COVID-19 Cases Detected Early by Wastewater Screening
Part of the university’s Return to Learn program, wastewater screening helped prevent outbreaks by detecting 85 percent of cases early, allowing for timely testing, contact tracing and isolation
How to Reduce Obesity among Latino Children, with Precision
UC San Diego and community collaborators receive $3 million grant to develop more community-centered, precision approaches to reducing adverse childhood events that lead to obesity, a nationwide problem
Semiparametric Statistical Solutions – Developing a Novel Approach to Analyzing Beta-diversity Using Functional Response Models
The proliferation of microbiome research over the past several years has spawned nearly as many questions as it has answered and revealed myriad new frontiers to analyze and understand. One of the most intriguing fields of study is the link between the human microbiome and the pathogenesis of diseases, including…
Refining Research Reproducibility: Understanding the Utility of Stability Criteria in Choosing Feature Selection Methods
Microbiome research’s emergence as a burgeoning field has yielded an ever-increasing availability of data sets to study. While the massive amounts of data have presented the opportunity for a variety of novel studies, their intrinsic nature of being high-dimensional, undetermined, sparse, and compositional has also caused challenges. This explosion of…
Center Brings Doctors, Scientists Together to Improve Health of Mother and Child
Topics include causes of miscarriage, preterm birth issues, preeclampsia and developmental origins of health and disease
AI Predicts How Patients with Viral Infections, Including COVID-19, Will Fare
Gene expression patterns associated with pandemic viral infections provide a map to help define patients’ immune responses, measure disease severity, predict outcomes and test therapies — for current and future pandemics
SARS-CoV-2 Detectable — Though Likely Not Transmissible — on Hospital Surfaces
The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 also tends to co-locate with one particular type of bacteria
Common Diabetes Drug Shows Promise as Treatment for COVID-19 Lung Inflammation
The blood sugar-lowering drug metformin prevented pulmonary inflammation, a major factor in COVID-19 severity and mortality, in studies of mice infected by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus
Superficial Relationship: Enzymes Protect the Skin by Ignoring Microbes and Viruses
UC San Diego School of Medicine researchers identify how the body regulates and prevents constant skin inflammation
Programs help Jacobs School undergraduates make the most of research experiences
University of California San Diego engineering and computer science undergraduates broaden their understanding of what it means to study engineering and computer science by getting involved in research.
How SARS-CoV-2 Hijacks Human Cells to Evade Immune System
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have discovered one way in which SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, hijacks human cell machinery to blunt the immune response, allowing it to establish infection, replicate and cause disease.
Evaluating the Effects of Ethanol’s Embrace: Studying the Viability of Storing Biospecimens Using Easily Accessible Materials
As microbiome research has steadily grown throughout the past decade, so too has the desire to maximize the diversity of microbial samples by moving collection work outside of the laboratory and into remote environments. This has presented unique challenges in sample storage, as there is no established protocol for microbiome…
Understudied Mutations Have Big Impact on Gene Expression
An international team of researchers led by computer scientists at the University of California San Diego have identified 163 variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs) that actively regulate gene expression. In a paper published in Nature Communications this week, the researchers provide new insights into this understudied mechanism, how it may…
Wisdom, Loneliness and Your Intestinal Multitude
It may take guts — or more precisely, a diverse gut microbiome — to achieve wisdom and fend off loneliness. Or perhaps it’s the other way around, report UC San Diego researchers
Repurposed Heart and Flu Drugs May Help Body Fight Sepsis
Despite continued improvements in antibiotics and hospital intensive care, staph sepsis — a bloodstream infection caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria — still causes severe illness or death in 20 to 30 percent of patients who contract it. Rather than continue to throw more antibiotics at the problem, University of California…
Researchers at UC San Diego Unveil New Interactive Web Tool for Visualizing Large-Scale Phylogenetic Trees
The proliferation of sequencing technologies and an ever-increasing focus on ‘omic studies over the past several years have spawned massive quantities of data and many tools to process and analyze the results. As these tools have evolved, so has the need for even greater scale and the ability to visualize…
Swift Sewage-Sifting System Boosts Efforts to Forecast and Mitigate the Spread of COVID-19
As the COVID-19 pandemic proliferated in early 2020, tracking the spread of a frequently asymptomatic virus presented a novel challenge for public health officials. Diagnostic testing was often unavailable and not fast enough to act as a useful forecasting tool. While symptoms can take several days to appear, the virus…
Sewage-Handling Robots Help Predict COVID-19 Outbreaks in San Diego
Automated process helps test city sewage for SARS-CoV-2, allowing researchers to forecast the region’s caseload one to two weeks ahead of clinical diagnostic reports
Delving into Drool’s Droves of Data: Quantifying the Microbial Load in Human Saliva
As anyone who has woken up to a blast of morning breath can attest, the human mouth plays host to a vibrant and diverse blend of microbes. Along with its obvious olfactory output, the oral microbiome impacts the digestive tract, immune system, and nearly every other facet of human health.…
Sourcing Viral Surveillance Supplies at the Pharmacy: Understanding Consumer-Grade Materials’ Viability as SARS-CoV-2 Testing Media
As the COVID-19 pandemic grew and quickly took hold of the world, one of the biggest challenges in the response efforts was determining the most effective approach to monitoring the virus’s spread. That task has become all the more critical as regional and national governments have been tasked with…
UC San Diego professor Bernhard O. Palsson named Y.C. Fung Endowed Chair in Bioengineering
University of California San Diego professor Bernhard O. Palsson has been named the Y.C. Fung Endowed Chair in Bioengineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering. Palsson is also a professor of pediatrics, and Director of the Center for Biosustainability.
Finding Worth in Waste: How Wastewater Monitoring Helps Reduce the Spread of SARS-CoV-2 at UC San Diego
Center for Microbiome Innovation director Rob Knight (above) and his research team regularly visit all sites to collect and test samples. Photo Credit – UC San Diego, Erik Jepsen Early detection is one of the keys to reducing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – and…
When Strains of E.coli Play Rock-Paper-Scissors, It’s Not the Strongest That Survives
New research from UC San Diego reveals hidden dynamics of bacteria colonies
The UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Celebrates 14 Researchers on Highly Cited Researchers 2020 List
The UC San Diego Center for Microbiome (CMI) is proud to announce that 14 of our academics have been named on the annual Highly Cited Researchers™ 2020 list from making up 27% of the 52 names listed from UC San Diego. Pieter Dorrestein – cross-field Jack Gilbert – microbiology Christopher Glass – molecular biology…
Antimicrobial Soap Additive Worsens Fatty Liver Disease in Mice
University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers found evidence that triclosan, an antimicrobial found in many soaps and other household items, worsens fatty liver disease in mice fed a high-fat diet.
Infection by Confection: COVID-19 and the Risk of Trick-or-Treating
Researchers say viral transmission risk is low, even when candies are handled by infected persons, but handwashing and disinfecting collected sweets reduces risk even further
Pavel Pevzner and team unveil new algorithm designed for metagenome assembly in long-read DNA sequencing
Center for Microbiome Innovation Faculty Member Pavel Pevzner and research team unveil new algorithm designed for metagenome assembly in long-read DNA sequencing Pavel Pevzner, who is a University of California San Diego computer science professor and faculty member of the UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI), and…
L’Oréal Joins UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) as Industry Partner
San Diego, Calif., September 22, 2020 – UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) announced today that the L’Oreal Group, the world’s leading beauty company, has joined CMI as an Industry Partner. Founded by a chemist in 1909, L’Oreal has a more than 110-year heritage rooted in scientific innovation,…
Dr. Rob Knight and CMI researchers develop tool to identify patterns driving differences in microbial composition
Compositional tensor factorization that allows control for individuality across time or space will enable significant advancements in the field of microbiome research Dr. Rob Knight, Faculty Director for the Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI), and a team of researchers at UC San Diego, UCLA, and the Flatiron Center for…
CMI Researcher Receives $7.3M DOE Grant to Address National Crop Productivity Through Soil Microbes
Multi-year research project will explore how to reduce microbial competition for organic Nitrogen and increase plant efficiency for long-term sustainable bioenergy production UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) Faculty Member Karsten Zengler and a team of researchers have been awarded a $7.3 million grant over a five-year period…
Center for Microbiome Innovation names Dr. Andrew Bartko as Executive Director
UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation names Dr. Andrew Bartko, a veteran research leader from Battelle Memorial Institute, as its new Executive Director Bartko embarks on new role as founding executive director Dr. Sandrine Miller-Montgomery departs to lead Micronoma, a San Diego-based startup spawned out of the Center …
UC San Diego Researchers Optimize Microbiome Tool for Computer GPUs
Microbiome analyses including COVID-19 research made significantly faster
IBM and UC San Diego to pivot AI for Healthy Living collaboration to take on COVID-19 pandemic
The University of California San Diego and IBM are building on the existing AI for Healthy Living (AIHL) collaboration in order to help tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than Just a Carnival Trick: Researchers Can Guess Your Age Based on Your Microbes
New understanding of how our microbiomes change as we age sets the stage for future research on the role microbes play in accelerating or decelerating the aging process and influencing age-related diseases
Unlock The Secrets Of Your Gut! New Research Project Offers 800 Participants Opportunity To Map Their Gut Health Free Of Charge
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. and SAN DIEGO, Feb. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — The Microsetta Initiative, a research project led by a team at the University of California, San Diego in partnership with Danone Nutricia Research — the research and innovation division of Danone North America’s global parent company, Danone S.A. — is recruiting hundreds of U.S. citizen scientists…
Algae Shown to Improve Gastrointestinal Health
Project is the first to test green algae on symptoms related to human digestion
New Mass Spec Search Engine Brings Easy Access to Public Data
Everyone knows the familiar feeling of having just a few lines of a song stuck in your head and wanting to know which song it was from. You open your browser and type it into your favorite search engine, instantly giving you not only the song, but the artist, year,…
New Algorithm Reveals Many Previously Unknown Potential Antibiotics in the Human Gut
We typically think about antibiotics as drugs that our doctors prescribe. But they are actually molecular bullets that bacteria use to kill each other – humans merely borrowed and adapted these bioactive compounds to fight infections. Since many bacteria produce bioactive compounds the question arises whether ≈1000 bacterial species inhabiting…
UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) Announces Nestlé as New Corporate Member
To further increase the understanding of the microbiome’s impact on human health and to accelerate the development of innovative nutritional solutions promoting health and wellbeing, Nestlé has entered into a partnership with the University of California San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI). The partnership builds on the CMI’s world-class…
IBM and UC San Diego Explore Challenges in Constructing Knowledge Bases for Human Microbiome-Disease Associations
San Diego, Calif., Oct. 2, 2019 — Researchers across nearly every discipline experience the struggle to stay up-to-date with the latest and greatest discoveries being published in their fields. In the field of human microbiome research where thousands of articles are being published each year, this task is especially daunting.…
UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) Announces Evonik as New Corporate Member
Evonik intensifies commitment to microbiome research in the search for new cosmetic raw materials • Three-year partnership with the UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) • Collaboration ensures access to first-rate academic research • Microbiotic cosmetic raw materials are designated to provide a better protection of the skin…
UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) Announces Danone Nutricia Research as new Corporate Member
San Diego, Calif., January 31, 2019 – Danone Nutricia Research and the University of California San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) have joined forces to advance the understanding of the connection between the diet and human gut thanks to The Human Diets & Microbiome Initiative (THDMI). The ambition of…
UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) Announces Sanitarium as new Corporate Member
San Diego, Calif., September 13, 2018 – The UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) is pleased to announce that Sanitarium Health & Wellbeing, one of Australia’s most trusted food companies, has joined CMI’s Corporate Member Board. Sanitarium has been producing a variety of healthy breakfast cereals and vegetarian products…
UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation Announces Pfizer as Corporate Member
San Diego, Calif., November 15, 2017 – The UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) announces that Pfizer Inc. has joined the Corporate Member Board. “We are thrilled to have Pfizer join CMI in pioneering microbiome science,” said Center Faculty Director Rob Knight. “This relationship aims to build on…
IBM Research and UC San Diego Collaborate to Advance the Use of Artificial Intelligence for Healthy Living
ARMONK, N.Y. and SAN DIEGO, Sept. 28, 2017 — IBM (NYSE: IBM) and the University of California San Diego have announced a multi-year project to enhance the quality of life and independence for aging populations through the new Artificial Intelligence for Healthy Living Center (AIHL), located on the campus of…
UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation Announces Panasas as Corporate Member
San Diego, Calif., March 13, 2017 – The UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) announces that Panasas, a leading provider of performance scale-out network-attached storage, has joined CMI’s Corporate Member Board and has donated a 500TB Panasas ActiveStor® high-performance storage solution to support the acceleration of microbiome research. ActiveStor drives…
Metagenics joins the UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation as an Industry Sponsor
San Diego, Calif., January 8, 2017 – Metagenics, Inc., a nutrigenomics and lifestyle medicine company, has joined the UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation (CMI) as an industry sponsor. The company offers products in the areas of blood sugar balance, body composition, cardiometabolic health, children’s health, gastrointestinal health, general…
