Home - Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) is a nonprofit scientific research organization in Seattle. Learn how our science is transforming health.

Today is National Science Appreciation Day. At ISB, that means advancing research to better understand — and ultimately improve — human health. From cancer & the microbiome to multi-omics & data-driven biology, our teams are working across disciplines to tackle complex problems.
isbscience.org

The Hidden Toll of Long COVID: One Patient’s Story and the Search for Answers A Long COVID patient shares her journey with brain fog, fatigue, and recovery as researchers discuss new insights from the RECOVER study.

Whitney Gibb’s #LongCOVID journey shows how profoundly the condition can affect daily life — even when standard tests appear normal. Her story highlights both the lived experience of brain fog & fatigue, & the scientific challenges researchers are working to solve.
🔗 isbscience.org/news/infecti...

We sat down with Anika & Dmitry to discuss the new paper where we use bacterial scRNA-seq for studying bacterial phage infection and defenses. It turns out that bacteria use pre-existing variation in multiple layers of traits to protect themselves from unpredictable phages @isbscience.org

Paper out: Profiling of lytic phage infection in individual B. fragilis cells with bacterial scRNA-seq. Congratulations Anika Gupta, Norma Morella, @monochamussutor.bsky.social Dmitry Sutormin et al, in collaboration with Georg Seelig (UW) and Neel Dey (Fred Hutch). www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How gut bacteria survive viral attack ISB researchers use single-cell sequencing to reveal hidden defenses against bacteriophages and uncover how some cells escape infection.

In the gut microbiome, bacteria are constantly under attack from viruses, but not all cells respond the same way. A new study uses single-cell sequencing to reveal hidden differences that determine whether bacteria survive or succumb to infection.
isbscience.org/news/health/...

Amazing new paper from @annabiosys.bsky.social’s lab, following the dynamics of a phage infection in B. fragilis with single-cell RNA-seq (MICRO-SPLiT)👇

@isbscience.org

Join us Monday, March 16 from 6-7 p.m. for a webinar featuring scientists from the NIH RECOVER Initiative discussing the latest insights into Long COVID and what they could mean for future diagnosis and treatment. Register:
isbscience.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Dr. Leroy Hood from @isbscience.org is a co-author on a new perspective piece published in Cell Systems.

Here, researchers discuss shifting medicine from reactive to proactive by picking up on early disease signals sooner.

🧐 Abstract: https://bit.ly/4sv49Nc

Two ISB papers are in this year’s #STATMadness bracket 🏀

Round 1 voting is open — help us advance!

Vote here:
🔗 www.statnews.com/feature/stat...

2026 STAT Madness 2026 bracket Welcome to STAT Madness, a bracket-style contest to find the best innovation in science and medicine. Explore groundbreaking innovations from

Our metagenomic diet-tracking method made it into #STATMadness this year! doi.org/10.1038/s422...

Vote for us! isbscience.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?...

@isbscience.org @uwbioe.bsky.social @natmetabolism.nature.com @cdiener.com @medunigraz.at @chmoei.bsky.social @geeksthatspeak.bsky.social

Simulations of your gut may predict which probiotics will stick A “digital gut” predicted which probiotics and high‑fiber diets would take hold in people's guts and produce healthier outcomes.

"Simulations of your gut may predict which probiotics will stick" www.sciencenews.org/article/prob...

Great reporting on our recent @plosbiology.org paper by @norabradford.bsky.social in Science News 📰

@isbscience.org

New research from Drs. Sean Gibbons and Nick Quinn-Bohmann at @isbscience.org show that computer models of gut metabolism can predict whether probiotics will successfully establish in an individual’s microbiome: https://bit.ly/40vWnGB

#PersonalizedMedicine

This is yet another demonstration of the clinical relevance of MCMMs for precision health and nutrition (gibbons.isbscience.org/publications/).

We hope to start testing these personalized, MCMM-designed interventions in prospective human trials in the next year.

Metabolic modeling reveals determinants of prebiotic and probiotic treatment efficacy across multiple human intervention trials Prebiotic and probiotic interventions can induce therapeutically relevant shifts in the human microbiome, but their effects are variable across individuals. This study shows that metabolic models can ...

Our latest is out today in @plosbiology.org:

"Metabolic modeling reveals determinants of prebiotic and probiotic treatment efficacy across multiple human intervention trials"

@isbscience.org @uwbioe.bsky.social @uwgenome.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Will It Stick? How to Tell Whether Probiotics and Prebiotics Will ‘Take’ Researchers used computer models to predict whether probiotics will “take” in individual microbiomes and how prebiotics shape gut chemistry.

Gibbons Lab researchers show that gut metabolism models can predict whether probiotics will take hold — and how diet shapes health-related molecules in the gut. A thoughtful step toward more personalized microbiome therapies. isbscience.org/news/health/...
@plosbiology.org @gibbological.bsky.social

Celebrating Dr. Mary E. Brunkow on @seattlemag.bsky.social’s Most Influential list — a nod to her Nobel-winning science and deep impact on both the Seattle community and global research.
seattlemag.com/column/most-...

🎇 @isbscience.org Professor Dr. Nitin Baliga has been elected to the American Academy of Microbiology 2026 Fellowship Class.

This highly selective honor recognizes exceptional scientific achievement and leadership in the microbial sciences. Congratulations! https://bit.ly/4kLnHdB

What If We Could Catch Disease Earlier, Before Symptoms Start? Buck Institute perspective calls for a new approach to detecting disease risk by listening to early biological changes

We Wait for Disease to Shout. What if We Listened When Biology Whispered? Perspective describes the path to scientific wellness. Great read from Dr. Nathan Price's team at the Buck. www.buckinstitute.org/news/what-if...
@cp-cellsystems.bsky.social

Forbes 250: America’s Greatest Innovators The Forbes Innovator 250: America's Greatest Innovators showcases the visionaries shaping our future. Find the full list of great minds and the mark they are leaving on our history.

Always nice when deep scientific innovation gets mainstream recognition. Congrats to Dr. Lee Hood on being named to @forbes.com’ “250 America’s Greatest Innovators.”
Decades of work building the technologies and ideas that shaped modern biology. www.forbes.com/sites/alexkn...

Huge congrats to @nitinbaliga.bsky.social on being elected to the American Academy of Microbiology as part of the 2026 Fellowship Class 🎉

A wonderful recognition of his impact in microbiology and systems biology — and of the leadership he brings to ISB.
isbscience.org/news/press-r...

Congrats to my @isbscience.org colleague @nitinbaliga.bsky.social for being elected as a Fellow to the American Academy of Microbiology! So well deserved! 🎉🦠

Behind the Breakthroughs: ISB’s Postdoctoral Fellows in Focus At ISB, postdocs enter the scientific workforce with passion, vision, and advanced training – bringing the fresh ideas that fuel discovery.

At ISB, discovery doesn’t just happen in journals — it happens through people. Our postdoctoral fellows are driving experiments, mentoring students, and building the next generation of systems biologists.
isbscience.org/news/philant...

Seoyoung (Trinity) Yun Seoyoung (Trinity) Yun's STISA research project explores the effect lidocaine cream has on the viability of yeast in order to better understand the overall effect anesthesia may have on health.

Meet Seoyoung (Trinity) Yun! Trinity is a senior at Interlake HS in WA who participated in our System Thinkers in STEM Ambassadorship. Check out Trinity’s STiSA project: see.isbscience.org/projects/seo... #STEMsystemsthinkers @isbscience.org

Jane Karaca Jane's STISA project brings us an educational video and a research paper to help us all better understand the chemical mechanisms, ecological significance and scientific applications of bioluminescenc...

Meet Jane Karaca! Jane is a junior at Eastlake HS in WA who participated in our System Thinkers in STEM Ambassadorship. Check out Jane’s STiSA project: see.isbscience.org/projects/jan... #STEMsystemsthinkers @isbscience.org

AI-Era Early Detection Is Shifting Healthcare from Reactive to Proactive Institute for Systems Biology researchers argue that combining systems biology technologies could detect disease earlier and make healthcare more proactive.

A new review explores how #AI and longitudinal #multiomics data could detect early transitions from wellness to disease — transforming healthcare from reactive to proactive.

It’s a shift from single biomarkers to dynamic, systems-level health trajectories.

🔗 isbscience.org/news/cancer/...

Integration of modern technologies to advance dietary assessment - Nature Food Accurately measuring dietary intake has long been a challenge in nutrition research. Integrating emerging tools with multisampling strategies and a dietary assessment methodology aligned with the rese...

Check out our review on emerging technologies for diet tracking in Nature Food. 👇

This paper was led by @catalinacuparencu.bsky.social, with @cdiener.com and others: www.nature.com/articles/s43...

@isbscience.org @uwbioe.bsky.social @uwgenome.bsky.social

Dr. Sean Gibbons: Toilet Visits, How Often And How Long - November 6, 2025 Podcast Episode · The Last Show with David Cooper · 2025-11-07 · 11m

What does a “healthy” bathroom routine actually look like? @isbscience.org microbiome researcher Dr. Sean Gibbons explains the science — from frequency to stool form — in a quick 11-minute podcast. Short, smart, and very listenable. @gibbological.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/d...

Before we stop crossing out 2025 and remembering to write 2026 at the top of our lab notebooks, check out all that our Seattle institutes accomplished in 2025! 🎉

@isbscience.org: https://bit.ly/4su411j
BBI: https://bit.ly/49fJZ30
@fredhutch.org: https://bit.ly/4qJf5Wi
KPWHRI: https://bit.ly/4su5Fjv

Pooled single-cell CRISPRa/i screens for functional genomics in bacteria at scale Pooled CRISPR screens using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) have emerged as powerful tools to uncover gene function, map regulatory networks, and identify genetic interactions. However, the inh...

Pooled CRISPR screens with transcriptomics readout arrived for bacteria. We introduce mapSPLiT, an approach to profiling transcriptional responses to CRISPR perturbations at scale. Collaborative work with Carothers, Zalatan, and Seelig groups at UW&@isbscience.org www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/4

🥉 Taking the #3 spot in our 2025 Post Countdown is the @isbscience.org Virtual Microbiome Symposium!

Don't worry if you missed out, the full recap is online: https://bit.ly/4qeNDQ4
bsky.app/profile/scienceinseattle...