Paleo Baby

Lauren Petersen, PhD, is a postdoctoral associate working for Dr. George Weinstock and investigating the microbiome. Our knowledge of the 100 trillion microorganisms that inhabit the human body is still very limited, but the advent of next-generation sequencing technology has allowed researchers to start understanding what kind of microorganisms inhabit the human body and identifying the types of genes these organisms carry. As part of the NIH-funded Human Microbiome Project, her lab is focused on developing and applying the latest technologies to characterize the microbiome and its impact on human health. One of her main projects is metatranscriptomic analysis whereby they are attempting to characterize gene expression of an entire community from human samples such as stool and saliva. Gaining information on what signals or environmental factors can trigger changes in global gene expression of an entire microbial community may provide us with the tools to better treat certain types of diseases in humans. Lau