Sarah Stevens
Data Science Hub Facilitator
Facilitating connections and training researchers in data science.
Microbiomes are the communities of microorganisms that live on or in people, plants, soil, oceans, and the atmosphere. Microbiomes maintain healthy function of these diverse ecosystems, influencing human health, climate change, food security, and other factors. Although new technologies have enabled exciting discoveries about the importance of microbiomes, scientists still lack the knowledge and tools to manage microbiomes in a manner that prevents dysfunction or restores healthy function.
WID researchers are engaged in diverse microbiome projects like linking gut microbes to Alzheimers Disease and gene expression, understanding the implications of microbial diversity, and discovering new antibiotics.
The UW-Campus Microbiome Portal is a component of WID’s Multi-Omics Hub.
Data Science Hub Facilitator
Facilitating connections and training researchers in data science.
Ten highly innovative projects have been chosen to receive University of Wisconsin–Madison Data Science Initiative funding, including two led by Wisconsin Institute for Discovery investigators.
Professor
Co-lead of Data Science Hub (hub.datascience.wisc.edu). Research on systems genetics.
Tiny Earth’s 2018 symposium will feature experts on the front lines of the antimicrobial resistance crisis.
WID Director
Genetic and biochemical processes underlying interactions within plant and human microbiomes.
Madison Microbiome Hub Manager / Multi Omics Hub Coordinator
Campus resource to support researchers interested in tackling a broad spectrum of microbiome research
Understanding diversity in microbial communities and their role in infectious disease; in particular, the genetic basis for stability of microbial communities, the role of a gut community as a source of opportunistic pathogens, and the soil microbial community as a source of new antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes.
Investigating how living organisms cooperate or compete in diverse and changing environments. Methods and perspectives are drawn from many fields, including ecology, evolution, molecular biology, physics, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, and computer science. The lab uses data-driven mechanistic and statistical models to predict when microbes or other organisms will persist or perish, with a broad goal of promoting human health through effective management of microbe-host interactions.
Professor, Multi-Omics Leader
Epigenetic chromatin changes that regulate cell signaling and metabolism
Assistant Professor
Developing statistical methods and computational tools for high-throughput omics data.
The Multi-Omics Hub will focus on the use of big data about the genes, microorganisms, and metabolites to understand biological systems. WID’s expertise makes it an ideal home for the Epigenetics Initiative for the large campus community that studies the epigenome, and as such WID will organize meetings, seminars, mutli-PI …
Handelsman is one of 34 faculty honored with Vilas professorships supported by the estate of professor, Senator, and Regent William F. Vilas.
Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor
Forecasting of virus-host growth and infection spread; physical and chemical origins of life
WID researchers Stephen Wright and Robert Nowak are part of a UW2020: WARF Discovery Initiative project to create machine learning tools that dramatically reduce the time and cost associated with screening compounds for therapeutic relevance.
Systems Biology researcher Kalin Vetsigian and graduate student Ye Xu recently published findings in Nature’s Scientific Reports about the stochasticity of growth within Streptomycetes spore communities.
Jo Handelsman, director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, explores the importance of soil at the Crossroads of Ideas lecture series.
Microbiome researchers bring $8 million in awards annually, which initiative looks to increase through grants.
The podcast “Is DNA the Basis for all Life in the Universe?” produced by The Naked Scientists, an affiliate of the BBC at Cambridge University features John Denu speaking of his recent findings on how the gut microbiome affects DNA expression.