The Elinav lab studies the microbiome, the immense microbial ecosystem that resides within the mammalian intestine and in other mucosal surfaces.

This microbial community is dominated by bacteria, but also includes archaea, eukarya and viruses. The Elinav group aims to decode how the vast microbiome repertoire functions in ways that benefit the host. The gut microbiome is shaped and regulated by multiple factors including our genomic composition, the local intestinal niche, and multiple environmental factors such as our nutritional repertoire and bio-geographical location. The mucosal immune system, as one example, co-evolves with the microbiome from birth, and intimately interacts with it through multiple mechanisms that remain elusive to date. Importantly, it has been recently highlighted that dysregulation of a number of genetic or environmental factors leads to aberrant host-microbiome interactions, ultimately predisposing the host to diseases including chronic inflammation, obesity, the metabolic syndrome and cancer.

The Elinav lab has identified various important mechanisms that participate in the reciprocal regulation between the host and the intestinal microbiome, and has demonstrated that disruption of these factors leads to dysbiosis and susceptibility to common multi-factorial disease in mice and humans both. Understanding the molecular basis of host-microbiome interactions may lead to the development of new microbiome-targeting treatments.

Awards
Levinson Award, 2016
Lindner Award, 2016
Rappaport Prize for Biomedical Research, 2015
Alon Award, 2013