Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center
Seed fellowship funding program
This program aims to support trainees of and encourage engagement with the center's core facilities. The funding opportunities provided by the center will help to jump-start ground-breaking microbiome research at UCLA by providing awards to graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career faculty with Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center mentors.
Seminar series
Join us for this monthly seminar series where invited guest speakers, Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center faculty and UCLA trainees present their latest research findings and discuss evolving areas of interest in the many ways the microbiome interacts with human health.
Researchers shine at the 2nd Annual Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center Symposium
On April 24, the UCLA Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center hosted it’s second annual symposium. In the rapidly developing field of microbiome and brain-gut microbiome research, it is critically important for clinicians and researchers to share information and build relationships in order to facilitate further advances. The success of this year’s symposium reflects its reach; 230 physicians, scientists, residents and fellows turned out for the event. The event featured seven researcher lectures and 31 poster presentations.
Latest news
Dr. Grave M. Aldrovandi receives lifetime achievement award for pediatric research
Dr. Aldrovandi is the 2025 recipent of the Douglas K. Richardson Award for Perinatal and Pediatric Healthcare Research by the Society for Pediatric Research. This prestigious award honors a lifetime of achievement in the field of child health research. She is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking work in pediatric HIV, the role of the microbiome in infant development and the impact of breast milk on child health.
Dr. Andrea S. Shin receives 2025 ACG Established Investigator Bridge Funding Award
Dr. Shin will apply the funding to support her research on microbiome endophenotypes over time in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
$9.5M grant to study relationship between polyphenol intake, Alzheimer’s prevention & brain-gut-microbiome system
UCLA Health researchers, in collaboration with researchers from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, have received $9.5M award from the National Institutes of Health with support from European funding agencies — The Science Foundation Ireland and the Public Health Agency Health & Social Care — to study the effects of polyphenols on cognitive health and the brain-gut microbiome system.
Three center members named among the world's most influential researchers
The annual Highly Cited Researchers list compiled by Calivate identified Drs. Elaine Hsiao, Aldons J. "Jake" Lusis and Emeran A. Mayer as scholars who have authored multiple studies that rank in the top 1% in the number of scholarly citations worldwide.
Discrimination can cause changes in the gut microbiome
In a new study published in Frontiers in Microbiology, Drs. Arpana Church and Tien S. Dong have found that people who experienced discrimination had pro-inflammatory bacteria and gene activity in their gut microbiome that was different from those who did not experience discrimination.
Caregiving adversity leads to changes in the oral microbiome, stress markers
In a new study, led by Bridget L. Callaghan, PhD, UCLA Health researchers found that youth who experienced caregiving adversity, described as having been mistreated or in foster care, had less variety in their oral microbiome compared to youth who remained living with their biological families. The same group also had more disease-causing bacteria in their oral microbiome, and their microbiome seemed less reactive to recent stress.