Develop integrated dietary and microbial tools for obesity and cancer prevention

The focus of our research group is understanding the relationship between diet and the microbiome in obesity and obesity-associate cancers, specifically colon cancer. Our goals are to 1) identify the dietary factors that modify the microbiome and their contribution obesity and colon cancer, 2) elucidate the key mechanisms controlling microbiota-host communication, and 3) develop microbial classifiers that improve stratification of patients for colon cancer treatment. Ultimately, our goal is to discover dietary factors and microbial targets for the development of clinical tools to prevent colon cancer development, and reduce morbidity and mortality from colon cancer.