March NORC Spotlight: Sean Gibbons, PhD
I am an Associate Professor at the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) and the Washington Research Foundation Distinguished Investigator, in Seattle, where I direct human microbiome research. My group develops computational and wet-lab approaches for exploring and manipulating host-microbe ecosystems, at the intersection between systems biology and microbial ecology and evolution. Ultimately, my lab aims to develop personalized strategies for engineering the ecology of the gut to improve human health.
My lab is interested in how ecological communities in the gut change and adapt to individual people over their lifespans (i.e. host genotype, host development, and host behavior) and how these changes may impact human health. They develop computational and experimental tools for investigating and manipulating host-associated microbial communities to explore the interactions between ecology, evolution and ecosystem function, applying these insights to develop personalized interventions for improving human health. Recently, my lab identified robust associations between the composition of the human gut microbiome and on-target (i.e., LDL-lowering) and adverse (i.e., insulin resistance) responses to statin treatment, which could prove useful in drug personalization.
We recently had an R01 funded through the NIDDK, which will focus on predicting microbiome-mediated personalized responses to dietary interventions. This work will be in collaboration with UW NORC CTRS Associate Director Johanna Lampe and will include CTRS Core dietary assessment services conducted through the Nutrition Assessment Shared Resource (NASR) at Fred Hutch.
To learn more about Dr. Gibbons’ research publications, Click here