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...

Ashutosh Mangalam, PhD, in collaboration with Michael Wannemuehler, Professor and Chair, Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, was awarded a seed grant award from University of Iowa-Iowa State University (UI-ISU) Partnership Seed Grant Program.

Multiple members of the Karandikar and Mangalam labs were selected for travel awards and presentations at the upcoming meeting of the American Association of Immunology in San Diego, CA...

Ashutosh Mangalam, PhD, UI assistant professor of pathology, provides more evidence that this bacterium, Prevotella histicola (P. histicola), may have potential as a treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS)...