I am an assistant professor in the Division of Medical Oncology at The Ohio State University and a member of the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention
Program and Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology at the OSUCCC - James. My lab explores how the microbiome can be leveraged to improve outcomes of
people with cancer. Within this realm, we focus on computational biology, experimental approaches, and clinical trials to link the microbiome to cancer treatment
outcomes and mechanisms. We manage the collection, processing, and data generation of human microbiome samples in many trials at Ohio State and nationally.
The wet lab focuses on establishing causality from clinical observations, often by modifying mice's gut microbiomes, including creating human microbiome avatar
models from patient samples, defined communities, or isolated organisms. We utilize these defined systems to evaluate the microbial determinants of orthotopic
and heterotopic cancer outcomes following immunotherapy or other treatments. Notably, we've found that this process leads to the colonization of tumors by
microorganisms in several cancer types. Additionally, we develop computational tools for analyzing microbiome data and integrating them with other data types.