Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center
UCLA receives $20 million to establish Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center
Among the most promising areas of scientific inquiry is the study of the human microbiome and its effect on health. To fuel more rapid progress in this field, Andrea and Donald Goodman and Renee and Meyer Luskin have made a $20 million gift to establish the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center. Research at the center will focus on the microbiome’s role in disease prevention and the body’s immune response with the goal of developing new treatments.
Cores
Supporting the groundbreaking work underway at the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center is a unique setup of specialized services ranging from neuroimaging to microbiome sequencing to data analysis. The seven research cores and one administrative core are both efficient and cost-effective.
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.
Latest News
Elaine Y. Hsiao, PhD, named among world’s most influential researchers
Dr. Hsiao, director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center, was one of 40 UCLA faculty members named among the world’s most influential researchers in the sciences and social sciences. The Highly Cited Researchers list, compiled annually by analytics firm Clarivate, identifies scholars whose work has most often been cited in papers published by other researchers in their fields over the past decade. Those named to the 2023 list have authored studies that rank in the top 1% worldwide in scholarly citations.
A mouther mouse needs a diverse gut microbiome to form a healthy placenta
The bacteria found naturally in the digestive tract do a lot more than help digest food. Scientists have established that these microbial communities are also involved with the immune system and play a role in mental health. Now, they can add helping grow a healthy placenta during pregnancy to the list of unexpected ways the gut microbiome influences health and well-being.
Hardship affects the gut microbiome across generations
This study draws on a large longitudinal cohort to demonstrate that adversity experienced prenatally or during early childhood, as well as adversity experienced by the mother during her childhood, impacts the gut microbiome of second-generation children at two years old.
Men and women have different obesity drivers, pointing to the need for tailored interventions
A new study from UCLA researchers finds sex-specific brain signals that appear to confirm that different drivers lead men and women to develop obesity.
The association between disadvantaged neighborhoods and cortical microstructure and their relation to obesity
According to newly published research in Nature, living in a disadvantaged neighborhood can affect food choices, weight gain and even the microstructure of the brain.
Everyday experiences of racism can impact your brain-gut microbiome
It’s been proven that experiencing systematic racism negatively affects one’s mental health. But it can also lead to diseases associated with inflammation, such as rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune inflammatory disease, according a recent study published in Biological Psychiatry.