Versalovic Lab Members
About Us
The research team in the James Versalovic Laboratory explores how beneficial microbes can promote health, relieve disease, and prevent illness. As a team of scientists, we seek to understand the nature of the gut microbiome and molecular mechanisms of probiosis in pediatric intestinal biology.
Our aim is to improve the global health of children by focusing on early gut development and chronic intestinal disorders of childhood such as inflammatory bowel disease and recurrent abdominal pain.
We seek to understand the human microbiome and how the microbiome affects mucosal signaling in intestinal inflammation. Diseases of interest include acute gastroenteritis, inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal neoplasia, and irritable bowel syndrome.
Probiotic beneficial bacteria derived from commensal microbes are being studied as natural modulators of intestinal immunity and enteric pain signaling. Genetic manipulation and rational selection of beneficial bacteria will be applied to the discovery of novel probiotics for the control of mucosal inflammation and immune responses to pathogens.
Dr. Versalovic is also embarking on seminal studies of the human microbiome with an emphasis on metagenomics of the human gastrointestinal tract.