Alejandra Mejia-Caballero's presentation on the diversity and function of Lactobacillus amylovorus in the pig intestine was selected for an award at the UC Davis Host Microbe Interaction Annual Retreat at held at Granlibakken, Lake Tahoe, October 2025. Congratulations Alejandra!

We were honored for excellent performance maintaining a culture of laboratory safety. This award was the result of hard work by current and former lab members. It was wonderful to be acknowledged in this way. For more information, see here. 

It remains a challenge in microbiology fully enumerage living (viable) microbes. This has implications for probiotics and other biotics research. You can find the blog post here. 

Diet is a major determinant of the gastrointestinal microbiome composition and function, yet our understanding of how it impacts the efficacy of prebiotics and probiotics is limited. In an ISAPP led paper published in Nature Microbiology, we examined current evidence of dietary influence on prebiotic and probiotic efficacy in human studies, including potential mechanisms.

Check out the discussion and resources provided on this recent UC Davis podcast. We talk about the state of the science on probiotics and why the diverse microbes in fermented foods should not be called probiotics. It was fun to taste some different fermented foods and biotic products available in the supermarket today,

Congratulations to Lei on completion of her dissertation research and PhD degree in Microbiology. Her dissertation, "Bioactivity of secreted compounds made by fermented vegetable-associated lactobacill" includes a detailed review on the bioactive compounds in lacto-fermented fruits and vegetables and several chapters dedicated to understanding the impacts of fermented food metabolites broadly and bacteriocins specifically in the digestive tract. We are thrilled that Lei will be continuing her work in the Marco lab as a Postdoc starting November 2024.

Glory Bui (PhD student MGG) received the honor of a coveted poster award at the annual International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) meeting in Sitges, Spain. The award was given to two students by the Student Fellows Association (SFA). Congratulations to Glory on her excellent research and presentation on diffusible factors made by L. casei in milk which improve intestinal epithelial barrier function.

We are excited to share the news that we are launching a new project to reduce antibiotic use and risk of antimicrobial resistance in pig production. This $21.2 million, 5-year PIG-PARADIGM project is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Our lab is teaming up with other researchers at UC Davis and at universities in Denmark and the Netherlands. We will be studying how to prevent the need for antibiotics during pig weaning by improving digestive tract resilience through the gut microbiome.

We are excited to share the news that Ruchita Uttarwar completed her MS research and graduated this June. Her thesis is titled "Effect of amoxicillin clavulanate on the intestinal microbiota and metabolomes of mice administered yogurt and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12". We are thrilled for her upcoming manuscript and bright future ahead.

Congratulations to Dr. Eric Stevens on the completion of his dissertation research. Eric's studies have shed new light on extracellular electron transfer metabolism performed by lactic acid bacteria in food fermentations.

Eric Stevens' dissertation research has led to exciting new findings on the metabolism of lactic acid bacteria. Through his research and together with our collaborators at Rice University, we discovered how L. plantarum uses extracellular electron transfer to improve growth and acidify its environment.

Congratulations to Zach Bendiks on his Journal of Functional Foods paper investigating how the gut microbiome changes in response to different dietary fibers. Resistant starch is highly selective and increases expression of stress-response genes corresponding with reductions in intestinal pH.