Huge congratulations to Nehal and Amy on successfully defending their honors theses!🎉
Both of you did an amazing job presenting your work. It’s exciting to see such thoughtful research on microbial co-culture dynamics and nutrient-driven interactions.
Wishing you both all the best for what’s next🚀
📣 April First Friday Microbiome Seminar!
Two great talks on host–microbiome interactions & drug response:
🔬 HNF4α & antiviral immunity by @crivetnoor.bksy.social
💊 Phase IV metabolism & drug absorption by Rachel DuMez-Kornegay
🗓 Apr 10 | 12 PM
📍 MEJ 3112
🍕 Pizza provided!
#Microbiome #UNC
Nivi is at the @abrf.bsky.social ABRF 2026 Annual Meeting presenting a poster on miniaturization of 16S sequencing at the UNC Microbiome Core.
If you’re here, come find us—would love to connect!
#ABRF2026 #Microbiome
Please email us if you need the recordings: microbiome@med.unc.edu
Join us this Friday for the Third Friday Microbiome Analysis Seminar!
🧬 Dr. Jeffrey Roach will cover how WGS microbiome data go from raw reads → taxonomic & functional insights.
📅 Mar 20, 2 PM
📍 1131 Bioinformatics Building
In-person only (recording available after).
#Microbiome #Bioinformatics
🦠 First Friday Microbiome Seminar 坲March is coming！
📅 March 6 | 12 PM
📍 Marsico Hall 2004 (+ Zoom)
zoom.us/j/92459436676
Dr. José M. Bruno-Bárcena (NC State) will discuss how packed-bed reactors help us study microbial communities under flow and stress.
#Microbiome #Biofilms #FFMS
🚀 Launching a new seminar series on the statistical & bioinformatics analysis of microbiome data!
Feb 20 | 2 PM at Bioinformatics Bldg, Rm 1131
Opening talk:
“Background on 16S rRNA Amplicon Sequencing Data Sets and Data Analysis”
#Microbiome #Bioinformatics
🎉 Our first FFMS of the Spring semester is coming!
🗓 Fri, Feb 6 | 🕛 12 PM
📍 Marsico Hall 7004 + Zoom
🎤 Orlando Arguello-Miranda (NC State): Generative AI & Microbiome Imaging
🌱 Trainee talks + 🍕 pizza!
🔗 Zoom: zoom.us/j/99259726129
Had the best time at our UNC Microbiome Core year-end gathering tonight! 💙✨
We had an amazing potluck feast and a chaotic, hilarious white elephant exchange.
Wishing you all a cozy winter break, and excited for another year of discoveries, collaboration, and good vibes ahead.
Our last FFMS seminar of the semester is this Friday at 12 pm! 🎉
Join us for talks by Bai Li, PhD and Olivia Maurer, PhD candidate, covering urban wastewater microbiomes and infant gut HMO processing.
📍 Marsico Hall 2004 + Zoom
🍕 Pizza provided!
#FFMS #microbiome
Thrilled to share that Yunan Hu just passed her PhD Qualifying Exam! 🎉
🌟 Welcome our new BBSP rotation student, Inhwan Choi! Originally from Suwon, South Korea, Inhwan is a first-year grad student at UNC studying gut microbiota and intestinal immunity. He’s developing a mucus model to explore prebiotic effects on the gut barrier. 🧫🧠
We were thrilled to attend ASM-NC 2025 in Greensboro, where we presented our latest work on co-cultures of Lactobacillus responding to different carbohydrates. 🎉
A huge congratulations to Nehal for winning the Best Poster Award! 🙌
Thanks everyone (Yunan, Abe, Amy) who contribute to this project!
Join us for the First Friday Microbiome Seminar #FFMS
📅 Nov 7, 12 PM | Marsico Hall 2004 + Zoom: zoom.us/j/95873962698
Talks by Dr. Folami Ideraabdullah (UNC) on diet × microbiome × sex effects & Özge Kuddar (NCSU) on bias in microbiome analysis.
🍕 Pizza served!
📢 First Friday Microbiome Seminar (Oct 3, 12pm, Marsico 2004 + Zoom)!
Talks by:
🔹 Amanda Nelson, PhD – microbiome & osteoarthritis in humans + dogs
🔹 Ourania Raftopoulou – CRISPR in Bifidobacterium lactis
🍕 Pizza will be served. Hope to see you all!
#FFMS
Nivi represented UNC Microbiome Core at the 2025 MAD SSCi Annual Conference, hosted by VCU Massey Cancer Center. We shared our services, learned from fellow core directors, and explored new ways to collaborate & promote science in our community. #Microbiome #Cores
If anyone happens to be around UNC Chapel Hill this week, I'll be speaking on Tuesday: www.med.unc.edu/cgibd/event/... @microbiomeunc.bsky.social #microbiome
First Friday Seminar is back 🎉
📍 Marsico Hall 2004 + Zoom
🗓️ Fri Sept 5, 12 pm
Talks on microbes, fear circuits & gut metabolites!
🍕 Pizza served
🔗 zoom.us/j/97951195489
#Microbiome #UNC
Had a great undergrad lab meeting today 🎉
Our team shared their work on the Lactobacillus–nutrient response project — from growth curves to qPCR, chemical assays, and knockouts.
So proud of how much they’ve grown, and it’s amazing to see how collaboration makes the whole project stronger! 💡🧫
Alongside with Angela, Nehal, Amy, and Abe, we now have four amazing undergraduate students in the lab this semester.
Here’s to more curiosity, collaboration, and discovery!
We’re also welcoming Nehal Devpura back!
Nehal first joined us in her junior and is now a senior student from Nutrition department, studying Nutrition Science & Research on the pre-med track.
Nehal is continuing her Lactobacillus fluorescence project and bringing even more energy to the lab!
New semester, new faces at UNC Microbiome Core!
We’re welcoming Angela Sofia Molina to the lab this fall. Angela is a junior in Nutrition Science & Research, fascinated by how the gut microbiome impacts human health and GI diseases.
See more in 🧵
We had a fantastic time at the Gordon Research Conference on Lactic Acid Bacteria 2025 last week!
It was a great opportunity to connect, share science, and get inspired.
Shoutout to Yunan Hu for being elected co-chair of GRS 2027 🎉
Grateful to be part of such an amazing community!
Join us for First Friday Microbiome Seminar in June!
📅June 6 |🕚11am |📍Marsico Hall 2004
We have two speakers:
Dr. Benjamin Parker @ben-parker.bsky.social (UNC Biology), and Dr. Abigail Shahar Gancz (postdoc fellow at NCSU)
Come and join us in person on June 6!
#FMT #HostMicrobe #Lipidomics #FFMS
Today is World Digestive Health Day！
As we continue to uncover the links between the gut microbiota and human health, its clear that supporting a healthy microbiome is key to long-term health.
Let’s celebrate our digestive system and the microbial communities that help keep it running. #WDHD2025
We had a great time today at the NC Microbiome Symposium! So many inspiring talks and meaningful conversations. It was wonderful to reconnect with familiar faces and meet new ones who share a passion for microbiome science.
Let’s continue working together to advance microbiome research!
#Microbiome
We had a sweet celebration during this week’s lab meeting — congratulations to our wonderful graduate student Yunan on her recent marriage!
Thank you to everyone who helped make it special, especially for the delicious homemade cake.
Wishing Yunan all the best in this exciting new chapter!
#AGS2025 in Chicago!
Our MD trainee Madelyn Bullard (Claire) presented her poster at the American Geriatrics Society Annual Meeting, showcasing her research on how GOS supplementation influences gut microbiota composition and function in lactose-intolerant adults over 55.
Great job, Claire!
Trainee Microbiome Club Speaker: Nona Hashemi
PhD Candidate, Nanoengineering, North Carolina A&T State University
Nona’s innovative work explores engineered microbial biofilms as next-generation platforms for disease detection and therapeutic delivery.
Dr. Lisa Karstens, PhD
Associate Professor, Oregon Health & Science University.
Dr. Karstens specializes in microbiome bioinformatics and women’s health, with NIH-funded research advancing our understanding of bladder disorders through integrative microbiome and cohort data analysis.