Zachary D. Kurtz

TL;DR: SParse InversE Covariance Estimation for Ecological Association Inference is presented, a statistical method for the inference of microbial ecological networks from amplicon sequencing datasets that outperforms state-of-the-art methods to recover edges and network properties on synthetic data under a variety of scenarios.

TL;DR: It is found that helminth infection protects mice deficient in the Crohn’s disease susceptibility gene Nod2 from intestinal abnormalities by inhibiting colonization by an inflammatory Bacteroides species, and this results support a model of the hygiene hypothesis in which certain individuals are genetically susceptible to the consequences of a changing microbial environment.

TL;DR: It is suggested that helminth-colonized individuals had greater species richness and number of observed OTUs with enrichment of Paraprevotellaceae, especially with Trichuris infection.

TL;DR: By transcriptional profiling analysis, it is shown that, although both monocyte and tissue-derived AAMs expressed high levels of Arg1, Chi3l3, and Retnla, only monocyte-derivedAAMs up-regulated Raldh2 and PD-L2, and monocytes' properties associated with immune regulation may depend on the distinct lineage of these cells.

TL;DR: These studies form the basis for new models of type 2 diabetes and NAFLD that involve microbiome perturbation and showed topological shifts concurrent with growth promotion and suggest the presence of keystone species.