CMIT Rasmussen Fellows Talks & Mixer

On December 12^th  2024, the Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics held its first Rasmussen Fellows Talks and Mixer event in Hayden Library. The evening spotlighted the research of CMIT’s inaugural Neil and Anna Rasmussen Fellows, Alyssa Haynes Mitchell and Daniel Pascal, and included posters from CMIT Clinical Scholars Jason Zhang, MD PhD, Marjolein Klaassen, MD PhD, and Arushi Kohli, MD.

Alyssa, a third year Microbiology graduate student in the Lieberman Lab (IMES) gave a talk on within-person evolution of live biotherapeutic bacteria. Using extensive clinical samples in collaboration with Vedanta Biosciences, she is reconstructing the evolutionary trajectories of bacterial strains from a defined live biotherapeutic in patients over the course of six months, with the ultimate aim of informing the design of more effective probiotic therapies.

Daniel, a fourth year Biological Engineering student in the Voigt Lab, presented his work engineering E. coli Nissle, a commercially available probiotic, to deliver specific microcins targeting pathogens associated with traveler’s diarrhea. His aim is to design an effective alternative to broad-spectrum antibiotics that leaves the native microbiome intact. 

Over 60 people attended the event, including undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and faculty from across the Institute, as well as researchers from other institutions and interested members of the public. The Center will hold its next Microbiome Talks & Mixer, spotlighting the work of Clinical Scientist Jazon Zhang, in early 2025.