Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative

The Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative will conduct a two-day workshop to introduce scientists to microbiome analytics Sept. 14-15. Read More

Vanderbilt faculty, staff, and students can now apply for the Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative Venture Fund, which supports microbiome scholarship spanning research, education, outreach, art, ethics, law and policy development, among others. Read More

Join the Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative for a special World Microbiome Day seminar and Q&A session on Wednesday, June 23, featuring Yale University's Benjamin Chan. World Microbiome Day celebrates the importance of understanding and deploying microbial communities and their products for positive outcomes in a sustainable manner. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Data Science Institute has kicked off the third year of its undergraduate summer research program. The program engages students who are interested in carrying out data science-related research with a Vanderbilt faculty member and integrates them into the institute’s community of data science scholars. Read More

Graduate student Catherine Shelton has been selected as one of two students nationally to receive the ninth annual Gut Microbiome, Yogurt and Probiotics Fellowship grant from Danone North America, the fresh dairy and plant-based products company. Shelton will use her grant to fund her research on identifying early-life microbiota components that may prevent obesity in children. Read More

Registration is open for a discovery-based program and research experience for local high school teachers. Participants will practice skills and concepts in biodiversity, biotechnology and bioinformatics. Read More

The Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative’s annual boot camp series will introduce participants to an analytical and experimental workflow and web-based visual tools to study and investigate the microbiome. Workshop II in the series is scheduled for Monday, May 17, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. CT. Read More

Seth Bordenstein, Centennial Professor of Biological Sciences and director of the Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative, has been elected to fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology. Read More

The Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative Postdoc Association, in association with the Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative and VI4 research communities, will host Dr. Ruth Ley of the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen, Germany, on Wednesday, Feb. 24, at noon. Read More

The Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative 2020-21 boot camp series will introduce participants to a new analytical workflow and web-based visual tools to study and investigate the microbiome. Workshop II in the series is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 26, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Read More

The 4th annual Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative Boot Camp will kick off the first in a series of computational boot camps with an introduction to the importance of proper experimental design, data analysis and interpretation of microbiome sequencing data. Read More

Single-cell and multisystem analysis leads cell biologists at Vanderbilt to new understanding of rare cells, with potential inflammation-reducing therapeutics for Crohn’s disease and IBD patients. Read More

The Vanderbilt Undergraduate Microbiome Society recently made a donation of $1,000 to Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee as part of VUMS’ efforts to raise awareness about the microbiome and to better the local community. Read More

Join the Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative for a special World Microbiome Day seminar and Q&A session on Friday, June 26, featuring Professor Nandita Garud from the University of California, Los Angeles. Read More

The Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative is receiving attention for its role as a standard bearer for other microbiome programs, thanks to a new article on the importance and emergence of microbiome centers – academic hubs of microbiome-related research. Read More

The Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative Boot Camp is an annual workshop to train students and staff in microbiome study design, big data analysis and interpretation.The event will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Wyatt Center, Room 130. Read More

Vanderbilt investigators demonstrated that intestinal cells promote beneficial microbe behavior — the findings support developing microbiota-based therapies for intestinal health. Read More

Six faculty-led teams have received 2018 Microbiome Venture Fund awards to pursue projects related to the broad category of microbiomes—the totality of microbes in or on an environment. Read More

Bordenstein’s team studied Nasonia parasitic wasps, which are about the size of a sesame seed, and they serve as one of the best models to dissect and characterize the evolution of insect genomes. Read More

Right under your nose but unseen by the human eye is the microbiome—the totality of microbes in an environment. The Vanderbilt Microbiome Initiative, funded by a TIPs grant, is coordinating basic, translational and clinical scholarship to help unlock the mysteries of these bacteria, viruses and more. Learn about the initiative and its new website in this VU BreakThru blog post. Read more about TIPs grants and other internal faculty funding programs—including University Courses, Research Scholar Grants and Discovery Grants—at the VU BreakThru blog. Read More