91̽»¨

Education

• Gut microbiome and human health, University of South Florida (Research Associate), 2022 
• Gut microbiome and bacterial infections/ageing, Wake Forest University (Research Fellow), 2021 
• Genomic engineering with Clostridia, Auburn University (Postdoc), 2017 
• Microbiology (Probiotics and bacteriophages), Shandong University (PhD), 2010 

Expertise

• Bacterial infections 
• Clostridioides difficile 
• Probiotics/prebiotics 
• Genomic engineering (CRISPR/Cas9) 
• Gut microbiome 
• Short chain fatty acids  
• Anti-ageing 
• Bacteriophages 
• Antibiotics alternatives 

Summary of Work 

We focus largely on the bacterial pathogen studies especially Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile). C. difficile is the most common hospital acquired infections, with high rate of antibiotic resistance and recurrence incidences, became a debilitating public health threat, with no successful preventive and treatment options.  

We are interested in exploring the pathogenic mechanisms (related genes, proteins, pathways) and biomarkers by genetic engineering; and conducting projects that elucidate the effects of probiotics/prebiotics/natural metabolites on gut microbiome modulation to attenuate C. difficile infection (CDI) and recurrent CDI (rCDI). We would also discover new drugs (as antibiotics alternatives) and develop new systems to prevent and treat CDI/rCDI. Moreover, we will also be interested to extend therapeutic strategies to other emergency pathogens to improve human health. 

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