Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam, Associate Professor in the department of Pathology, was a featured guest on the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Ask an MS Expert program. In this insightful episode on Gut Health and MS, Dr. Mangalam discussed the intriguing connection between gut health and multiple sclerosis (MS) with host Jon Strum, who also leads the popular RealTalk MS podcast.

Rachel Fitzjerrells, a Bioinformatics and Computational Biology PhD student in the Mangalam Lab, won the prestigious Max Smith Oral Presentation Award at the 71st Iowa Section AADOCR on February 13th, 2024. Her presentation, “Machine Learning Approach Identifies Dysbiotic Oral Communities in Multiple Sclerosis,” explored innovative methods for analyzing the oral microbiome. Rachel's presentation was selected as the best from over 40 graduate student and post-doctoral presentations, demonstrating her excellent communication skills, cutting-edge research, and engaging delivery.

Stephanie Peterson successfully defended her PhD thesis in early October and completed the Immunology PhD program. Stephanie’s thesis is entitled A tale of two diets: Divergent effects of fructose and isoflavones in a mouse model of Multiple Sclerosis. She performed her thesis work in the laboratory of Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam where she examined the effects of fructose on the gut microbiome, immune system, and disease outcomes in a mouse model of Multiple Sclerosis. Additionally, Stephanie investigated potential mechanisms of isoflavone-mediated protection in these mouse models.

Peter Lehman successfully defended his M.S. thesis this past June and completed the Pathology M.S. program. Peter’s thesis is entitled Effect of Gut Microbiota Modulation During Early-life and Adulthood on Host Immunity. He performed his thesis work in the laboratory of Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam where he examined the effects of gut microbiome disruption on immune function.

Dr. Shailesh K. Shahi (Faculty Associate) received an American Association of Immunology (AAI) Early Career Faculty Travel Grant to attend the upcoming annual AAI meeting in Washington D.C. In addition, Stephanie Peterson received an AAI Trainee Abstract Award and Ti-Ara Turner received an AAI Trainee Poster Award to attend the same meeting. Stephanie and Ti-Ara are graduate students in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Immunology. All three are working in the laboratory of Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam.

Diet and the gut microbiome have emerged as important factors in regulating the pathobiology of multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. The Mangalam laboratory has previously shown that individuals with MS have distinct gut microbiota, with a specific depletion of gut bacteria responsible for metabolism of dietary phytoestrogen. The importance of phytoestrogen-metabolizing gut bacteria in preventing MS has been verified by the Mangalam laboratory using a mouse model of the disease (experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis or EAE), where a diet rich in isoflavone (a type of phytoestrogen) protected from severe disease.

Drs. Ashutosh Mangalam, Hans-Joachim Lehmler and Christina Camell were awarded a Collaborative Iowa-Minnesota Pilot and Feasibility Grant from the UI Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center. The grant is entitled ‘Environmental Toxicant Glyphosate Synergizes with the Western Diet to Induce Obesity by Increasing Gut Microbial Dysbiosis and Adipose Tissue Inflammation’.

Stephanie Peterson, a PhD student in the laboratory of Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam, was recently featured in “The Dare to Discover” campaign...

Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam received a four-year VA Merit Award entitled, “Effect of Gut Microbiome Dysbiosis in the Pathobiology of Multiple Sclerosis”...

Shailesh Shahi and Samantha Freedman Wins Presentation and Travel Awards for the 2020 Annual Association of Immunology Meeting...

Stephanie Peterson, of Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam's lab, was selected as a trainee on the Immunology Pre-doctoral T32 training grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases...

Meeta Yadav, MBBS, DCH, a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam, was selected as a trainee on an Institutional National Research Service Award...