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Research Overview

We are interested in understanding host-microbiota interactions and their influence on different clinical outcomes. Specifically, we investigate how maternal gut microbiota or early life enteric microbial communities shape infant adaptive immunity.

Infants exposed to HIV but not infected (iHEU), display heightened immune activation, inflammation and have high infectious morbidity compared to those who are HIV unexposed (iHU). The mechanisms behind these phenomena are not well understood, but are likely multifactorial. We hypothesize that the gut bacteriome and virome are key drivers of poor clinical outcomes in iHEU. We are evaluating whether there is a causal relationship between early life gut microbiota in iHEU and these clinical outcomes. Our research spans clinical studies using samples obtained from human cohorts and reverse translational studies in preclinical models to gain mechanistic insights. We study the bacteriome, virome, vaccine immunogenicity, and immunity against pathogens. Our goal is to unravel the mechanisms underlying poor health outcomes in iHEU, which will guide development of microbiota-targeted interventions to improve these infants’ health outcomes.