Noah Wolcott Palm, PhD
Research & Publications
Biography
News
Locations
Research Summary
The microbiota is now well-accepted as a major contributor to human health. However, the molecular bases for its impacts remain largely unknown. To address this knowledge gap, my lab has pioneered the development of “functional profiling” technologies that use microbial interactions with the host as a lens to identify causal microbes and their mechanisms of action. Many of these technologies leverage recent developments in synthetic biology and next-generation sequencing to explore thousands of possible molecular-level interactions between indigenous microbes (and their products) and potential host receptors. We assess the causal effects of these interactions on mammalian physiology using a combination of anaerobic ‘culturomics’ (to isolate microbial strains of interest) and reductionist gnotobiotic mouse models (e.g., germ-free mice colonized with simplified microbial communities). Finally, we have a long-standing interest in discovering and characterizing novel immunostimulatory strains from the human gut microbiota and dissecting the co-evolutionary dynamics of host-microbiota interactions. Overall, our studies establish both conceptual frameworks and experimental tools to understand how and why our microbial inhabitants have such wide-reaching impacts on human health and disease.
Coauthors
Research Interests
Allergy and Immunology; Homeostasis; Inflammation; Neuroimmunomodulation; Gastrointestinal Tract; Adaptive Immunity; Microbiota; Brain-Gut Axis
Selected Publications
- Highly multiplexed bioactivity screening reveals human and microbiota metabolome-GPCRome interactionsChen H, Rosen C, González-Hernández J, Song D, Potempa J, Ring A, Palm N. Highly multiplexed bioactivity screening reveals human and microbiota metabolome-GPCRome interactions. Cell 2023, 186: 3095-3110.e19. PMID: 37321219, PMCID: PMC10330796, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.05.024.
- Commensal microbiota from patients with inflammatory bowel disease produce genotoxic metabolitesCao Y, Oh J, Xue M, Huh WJ, Wang J, Gonzalez-Hernandez JA, Rice TA, Martin AL, Song D, Crawford JM, Herzon SB, Palm NW. Commensal microbiota from patients with inflammatory bowel disease produce genotoxic metabolites. Science 2022, 378: eabm3233. PMID: 36302024, PMCID: PMC9993714, DOI: 10.1126/science.abm3233.
- Within-host evolution of a gut pathobiont facilitates liver translocationYang Y, Nguyen M, Khetrapal V, Sonnert ND, Martin AL, Chen H, Kriegel MA, Palm NW. Within-host evolution of a gut pathobiont facilitates liver translocation. Nature 2022, 607: 563-570. PMID: 35831502, PMCID: PMC9308686, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04949-x.
- Interspecies commensal interactions have nonlinear impacts on host immunityRice TA, Bielecka AA, Nguyen MT, Rosen CE, Song D, Sonnert ND, Yang Y, Cao Y, Khetrapal V, Catanzaro JR, Martin AL, Rashed SA, Leopold SR, Hao L, Yu X, van Dijk D, Ring AM, Flavell RA, de Zoete MR, Palm NW. Interspecies commensal interactions have nonlinear impacts on host immunity. Cell Host & Microbe 2022, 30: 988-1002.e6. PMID: 35640610, PMCID: PMC9283318, DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2022.05.004.
- Autoreactivity in naïve human fetal B cells is associated with commensal bacteria recognitionChen JW, Rice TA, Bannock JM, Bielecka AA, Strauss JD, Catanzaro JR, Wang H, Menard LC, Anolik JH, Palm NW, Meffre E. Autoreactivity in naïve human fetal B cells is associated with commensal bacteria recognition. Science 2020, 369: 320-325. PMID: 32675374, DOI: 10.1126/science.aay9733.
- A Forward Chemical Genetic Screen Reveals Gut Microbiota Metabolites That Modulate Host PhysiologyChen H, Nwe PK, Yang Y, Rosen CE, Bielecka AA, Kuchroo M, Cline GW, Kruse AC, Ring AM, Crawford JM, Palm NW. A Forward Chemical Genetic Screen Reveals Gut Microbiota Metabolites That Modulate Host Physiology. Cell 2019, 177: 1217-1231.e18. PMID: 31006530, PMCID: PMC6536006, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2019.03.036.
- Immunoglobulin A Coating Identifies Colitogenic Bacteria in Inflammatory Bowel DiseasePalm NW, de Zoete MR, Cullen TW, Barry NA, Stefanowski J, Hao L, Degnan PH, Hu J, Peter I, Zhang W, Ruggiero E, Cho JH, Goodman AL, Flavell RA. Immunoglobulin A Coating Identifies Colitogenic Bacteria in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Cell 2014, 158: 1000-1010. PMID: 25171403, PMCID: PMC4174347, DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2014.08.006.
- Bee Venom Phospholipase A2 Induces a Primary Type 2 Response that Is Dependent on the Receptor ST2 and Confers Protective ImmunityPalm NW, Rosenstein RK, Yu S, Schenten DD, Florsheim E, Medzhitov R. Bee Venom Phospholipase A2 Induces a Primary Type 2 Response that Is Dependent on the Receptor ST2 and Confers Protective Immunity. Immunity 2013, 39: 976-985. PMID: 24210353, PMCID: PMC3852615, DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2013.10.006.
- Allergic host defencesPalm NW, Rosenstein RK, Medzhitov R. Allergic host defences. Nature 2012, 484: 465-472. PMID: 22538607, PMCID: PMC3596087, DOI: 10.1038/nature11047.