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Division of Infectious Diseases

Research

Sears Lab on Microbiome

About Us

The Microbiome Community at Johns Hopkins fosters high impact, multidisciplinary research collaborations among researchers on the East Baltimore Campus at the Schools of Public Health and Medicine, and on the Bayview Campus. We provide services to investigators both within Johns Hopkins and at external research institutions. The community conducts basic and translational research on the gut microbiome to contribute knowledge about the role it plays in the development and modulation of chronic and infectious human diseases, and to inform advances in disease prevention and treatment. 

Our Team

Cynthia Sears, MD

Bloomberg-Kimmel Professor of Cancer Immunotherapy, Professor of Medicine and Oncology
Director, Germ-Free Facility
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Dr. Sears' lab

Cynthia L. Sears, MD

Hua Ding, MD, PhD

Senior Research Associate
Germ-Free Facility Manager
W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology
Bloomberg School of Public Health

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Santowana Aryal

Animal Research Technician
W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology
Bloomberg School of Public Health

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Cynthia Sears Laboratory

Work in the Cynthia Sears Laboratory focuses on the bacterial contributions to the development of human colon cancer and the impact of the microbiome on other cancers and the therapy of cancer. The current work involves mouse and human studies to define how enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis, pks+ Escherichia coli, Fusobacterium nucleatum, biofilms and the colonic microbiota induce chronic colonic inflammation and colon cancer. Prospective human studies of the microbiome and biofilms in screening colonoscopy are in progress as are studies to determine if and how the microbiome impacts the response of individuals with cancer to immunotherapy and other cancer therapies.

Principal Investigator

Cynthia Louise Sears, MD

Department

Medicine

Oncology

Research Areas

Salzberg Lab

Research in the Salzberg Lab focuses on the development of new computational methods for analysis of DNA from the latest sequencing technologies. Over the years, we have developed and applied software to many problems in gene finding, genome assembly, comparative genomics, evolutionary genomics and sequencing technology itself. Our current work emphasizes analysis of DNA and RNA sequenced with next-generation technology.
Lab Website

Principal Investigator

Steven L. Salzberg, MPhil MS PhD

Department

Biomedical Engineering

Research Areas

Pluznick Lab

The Pluznick Lab is interested in the role that chemosensation plays in regulating physiological processes, particularly in the kidney and the cardiovascular system. We have found that sensory receptors (olfactory receptors, taste receptors, and other G-protein coupled receptors) are expressed in the kidney and in blood vessels, and that individual receptors play functional roles in whole-animal physiology. We are currently working to identify the full complement of sensory receptors found in the kidney, and are working to understand the role that each receptor plays in whole-animal physiology by using a variety of in vitro (receptor localization, ligand screening) and in vivo (whole-animal physiology) techniques.
Lab Website

Principal Investigator

Jennifer Pluznick, PhD

Department

Physiology

Research Areas

Germ-Free Facility

Located at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Johns Hopkins Germ-Free Core Facility is a 1,400 square foot sterile research environment that offers a variety of services. Please contact Hua Ding for more information: hding10@jhmi.edu.

Events

Steven Salzberg, PhD
Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, and Biostatistics
Director, Center for Computational Biology
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine & Whiting School of Engineering

Jennifer Pluznick, PhD
Associate Professor of Physiology
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine