Catherine A. Lozupone

Catherine A. Lozupone
Born Catherine Anne Lozupone
1975 (age 40–41)
Academic background
Alma mater Villanova University
Colorado State University
University of Colorado Boulder
Doctoral advisor Rob Knight
Academic work
Institutions University of Colorado Denver
Main interests microbiologist
Notable works Diversity, Stability and Resilience of the Human Gut Microbiota

Catherine Anne Lozupone (born 1975) is an American microbiologist who specializes in bacteria and how they impact human health. Her noted work in trying to determine what constitutes "normal" gut bacteria, led to her creation of the UniFrac algorithm, used by researchers to plot the relationships between microbial communities in the human body. She is one of the world's most highly cited researchers.

Biography

Catherine A. Lozupone earned a Bachelor of Science from Villanova University in 1997 and went on to obtain a master's degree from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado in 1999.[1] She went on to complete her doctoral work at the University of Colorado Boulder studying under Rob Knight, who is the founder of the American Gut Project.[2] Little was known about the overall microbiome, the group of organisms sharing in the human body space, of the gut and the symbiotic relationship between host and bacteria, as most prior work had been done on fecal matter.[3] Her thesis delineated the UniFrac algorithm which has allowed researchers to plot the relationships between microbial communities in the human gut, how they interact, and how they might be related to specific diseases.[4] Lozupone's work, detailed in a 2012 paper which appeared in Nature entitled "Diversity, Stability and Resilience of the Human Gut Microbiota", was noted for its attempt to analyze what is the "normal" bacterial state in the human gut. By approaching the gut as an ecosystem, scientists are then able to factor in the effects of lifestyle, diet, health status which might change the bacterial makeup present in the gastrointestinal tract.[2]

In 2013, after completing her post-doctoral research in Knight's lab, Lozupone opened her own lab at the University of Colorado Denver,[2] where she works in the Department of Medicine as an assistant professor. She has begun evaluating the composition differences in the microbiome of healthy individuals versus those of HIV positive individuals. She is attempting to determine if T cell loss causes change in the bacteria levels, thus prompting chronic inflammation for people living with HIV.[5] According to Thomson Reuters, Lozupone was one of the most cited researchers in the world in 2014.[6]

Selected work

References

  1. ↑ Lozupone 2007, p. title.
  2. 1 2 3 Pollan, Michael (15 May 2013). "Some of My Best Friends Are Germs". New York City, New York: The New York Times. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  3. ↑ McNamara, Brittany (30 January 2013). "Q&A with Cathy Lozupone, Scientist Defining the Human Belly". Boulder, Colorado: The Boulder Stand. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Knight 2015, p. 89.
  5. ↑ "Catherine Lozupone, PhD". Virology Education. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds 2014" (PDF). Thomson Reuters. p. 68.

Bibliography

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.