Microbiology research in the Department of Surgery examines how microbes and their hosts interact, how those interactions shape surgical disease, and how they can be engineered or redirected to treat it. Investigators study the gut microbiome as a driver of cancer risk, metabolic disease and substance use disorders, and are building bacterial and viral systems designed to deliver therapy directly to the tissues where it is needed.
Our microbiology research portfolio is shown below. Please contact us if you would like to participate in these projects or if you have any questions.
Host-Microbe Interactions
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Microbial Regulation of Substance Use Disorders
The human body carries at least as many microbial cells as human cells, and the molecules those microbes produce act continuously on host tissue. Research in this area asks how specific bacterial species and their products alter the host's response to psychostimulants. Current work examines how Fusobacterium nucleatum enhances amphetamine-induced dopamine efflux and the behaviors that follow, and how multispecies biofilm formation supports colonization and shapes that response.
Faculty conducting research in this space include: -
The Gut-Brain Axis and Enteric Inter-Systemic Disorders
Enteric inter-systemic disorders pair gastrointestinal disease with conditions that appear unrelated, including anxiety, mental illness, obesity and addiction. Investigators study the cellular mechanisms and neural circuits that connect the gut to the brain's control of reward-driven, motivational and cognitive behavior, including how surgical procedures that alter central reward pathways may contribute.
Faculty conducting research in this space include:
Microbial-Based Therapeutics
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Engineered Microbes as Therapeutic Delivery Systems
Neuroendocrine tumors are slow growing and the hormones these tumors secrete cause sustained morbidity. Excess serotonin produces the diarrhea, malnutrition and cardiac fibrosis of carcinoid syndrome, while insulin-secreting tumors disrupt glucose homeostasis. Work in this area engineers attenuated bacterial strains to colonize the tumor microenvironment selectively and secrete enzymes that degrade hormone locally, reducing systemic release without systemic drug exposure.
Faculty conducting research in this space include: -
Viral Vectors and Synthetic Response Genes
Investigators are developing systems that use viral expression of recombinant regulatory proteins, paired with X-ray exposure, to induce apoptosis selectively in glioblastoma cells.
Faculty conducting research in this space include:
Microbiome and Cancer
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Microbiome Alterations in Colorectal Cancer
Environmental and behavioral exposures are among the least understood contributors of colorectal cancer. Research in this area investigates how psychostimulant exposure may reshape the microbiome in ways that promote tumor formation and progression, work that sits at the intersection of substance use, microbial ecology and cancer biology. Findings are intended to identify mechanisms that inform treatment and improve outcomes in vulnerable communities.
Faculty conducting research in this space include: -
Inflammation, Dysplasia and Colitis-Associated Cancer
Chronic intestinal inflammation creates a permissive environment for dysplasia. Investigators study the transition from immune homeostasis to that permissive state in colitis-associated cancer, with the goal of identifying new approaches to prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
Faculty conducting research in this space include:
Resources and Collaborations
Microbiology investigators in the department work through the Microbial-based Therapeutics Laboratory in the Kaul Genetics Building and collaborate with: