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Caltech Biologist Named MacArthur Fellow
10/02/2012
http://www.caltech.edu/content/caltech-biologist-named-macarthur-fellow
PASADENA, Calif. - Sarkis Mazmanian, a microbiology expert at the California
Institute of Technology (Caltech) whose studies of human gut bacteria have
revealed new insights into how these microbes can be beneficial, was named
a MacArthur Fellow and awarded a five-year, $500,000 `no strings attached'
grant. Each year, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awards
the unrestricted fellowships - also known as "genius" grants - to individuals
who have shown "extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative
pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction," according to the
foundation's website.
"I was in a state of shock when I heard the news," says Mazmanian, a
professor of biology at Caltech, who was tricked into taking the award
announcement call; he thought he was simply being added to a prescheduled
conference call. "It's not the kind of thing you ever expect - I do what I
do
because I love science and it makes me happy, so this is terrific and a
nice reward. At the same time, I never think of awards as goals of mine
because they seem so unattainable. My goals are to make discoveries, so I
was just in absolute disbelief."
Long before he was named a 2012 MacArthur Fellow, Mazmanian was showing the
attributes that the foundation seeks to reward, particularly a capacity for
self-direction. As a graduate student in the in the early 2000s, he decided
to stray from the normal path of study and try something new.
"I had been studying microbial pathogenesis - or bacteria that make us
sick - which is what 99.9 percent of the field of microbiology does to this
day," says Mazmanian. "Toward the end of my PhD, I decided that I wanted to
study organisms that didn't necessarily cause disease, but were associated
with our bodies. Ten years ago, this was completely on the fringe of
science - we knew that the organisms existed in our intestines and all over
our bodies, but had no idea what they were doing."
Today, Mazmanian's work examines some of the trillions of bacteria living
in our bodies that make up complex communities of microbes and regulate
processes like digestion and immunity. His main focus is to understand how
"good" bacteria promote human health - work that has transformed a quickly
evolving field of research that is investigating the connection between gut
bacteria and their relationship to both disease and health.
Medical Microbiologist Sarkis Mazmanian: 2012 MacArthur Fellow | MacArthur
Foundation
[image: Medical Microbiologist Sarkis Mazmanian: 2012 MacArthur Fellow |
MacArthur Foundation]
His research helped lay the groundwork for the Human Microbiome Project
(HMP), an initiative of the National Institutes of Health that aims to
characterize, for the first time, "the microbial communities found at
several different sites on the human body, including nasal passages, oral
cavities, skin, gastrointestinal tract, and urogenital tract, and to
analyze the role of these microbes in human health and disease," according
to the HMP website.
His laboratory was the first to demonstrate that specific gut bacteria
direct the development of the mammalian immune system and provide
protection from intestinal diseases. This means, he says, that fundamental
aspects of health are absolutely dependent on microbial interaction within
our bodies. In addition, he says that many disorders whose incidences are
increasing in Western countries - such as inflammatory bowel disease,
multiple sclerosis, and asthma - involve a common immunologic defect believed
to be caused by the absence of intestinal bacteria. An understanding of the
beneficial immune responses promoted by gut bacteria may lead to the
development of natural therapeutics for immunologic and perhaps neurologic
diseases, says Mazmanian.
"This award is extremely well-deserved - Sarkis has revolutionized the way
we think about the interactions between microorganisms and people," says
Stephen L. Mayo, William K. Bowes Jr. Foundation Chair of Caltech's
Division of Biology, and Bren Professor of Biology and Chemistry. "His
research has had an important impact in making the connection between
personal hygiene and the immune system, and even neurological diseases like
autism."
When the award announcement went public, Mazmanian was in Armenia, his
native homeland, teaching a one-week course on host-microbial interaction
to PhD students at a molecular biology institute. He travels to the country
once a year to volunteer his services. The timing, he says, couldn't be
better, as he hopes to use some of the prize money to develop an
international educational outreach program.
"I think that when you have a windfall like this, the least you can do is
help people who are in need," says Mazmanian, who credits the members of
his lab for his research success. "In many countries, they are in need of
education and resources, like lab equipment, text books, you name it. It
would be a terrific if I could use the money to help advance science in
countries where there is hardship."
Mazmanian received his bachelor's degree in 1995 and his PhD in
microbiology in 2002, both from UCLA. Following a postdoctoral fellowship
at Harvard, he joined the Caltech faculty as an assistant professor in
2006. In 2012, he was promoted to professor of biology. In 2011, Mazmanian
was the recipient of a Burroughs Welcome Fund award for research in the
pathogenesis of infectious disease, and in 2008 he was awarded a Searle
Scholarship and was named one of *Discover* magazine's "20 Best Brains
Under 40," which highlighted young innovators in science.
This year's crop of 23 Fellows includes stringed-instrument bow maker
Benoît Rolland and mathematician Maria Chudnovsky; Mazmanian joins the
ranks of Caltech's previous MacArthur Fellows, including 2010 awardee John
Dabiri.
For more information on the 2012 MacArthur Fellows, visit the foundation
website at www.macfound.org.
Written by Katie Neith
10/02/2012
http://www.caltech.edu/content/caltech-biologist-named-macarthur-fellow
PASADENA, Calif. - Sarkis Mazmanian, a microbiology expert at the California
Institute of Technology (Caltech) whose studies of human gut bacteria have
revealed new insights into how these microbes can be beneficial, was named
a MacArthur Fellow and awarded a five-year, $500,000 `no strings attached'
grant. Each year, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awards
the unrestricted fellowships - also known as "genius" grants - to individuals
who have shown "extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative
pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction," according to the
foundation's website.
"I was in a state of shock when I heard the news," says Mazmanian, a
professor of biology at Caltech, who was tricked into taking the award
announcement call; he thought he was simply being added to a prescheduled
conference call. "It's not the kind of thing you ever expect - I do what I
do
because I love science and it makes me happy, so this is terrific and a
nice reward. At the same time, I never think of awards as goals of mine
because they seem so unattainable. My goals are to make discoveries, so I
was just in absolute disbelief."
Long before he was named a 2012 MacArthur Fellow, Mazmanian was showing the
attributes that the foundation seeks to reward, particularly a capacity for
self-direction. As a graduate student in the in the early 2000s, he decided
to stray from the normal path of study and try something new.
"I had been studying microbial pathogenesis - or bacteria that make us
sick - which is what 99.9 percent of the field of microbiology does to this
day," says Mazmanian. "Toward the end of my PhD, I decided that I wanted to
study organisms that didn't necessarily cause disease, but were associated
with our bodies. Ten years ago, this was completely on the fringe of
science - we knew that the organisms existed in our intestines and all over
our bodies, but had no idea what they were doing."
Today, Mazmanian's work examines some of the trillions of bacteria living
in our bodies that make up complex communities of microbes and regulate
processes like digestion and immunity. His main focus is to understand how
"good" bacteria promote human health - work that has transformed a quickly
evolving field of research that is investigating the connection between gut
bacteria and their relationship to both disease and health.
Medical Microbiologist Sarkis Mazmanian: 2012 MacArthur Fellow | MacArthur
Foundation
[image: Medical Microbiologist Sarkis Mazmanian: 2012 MacArthur Fellow |
MacArthur Foundation]
His research helped lay the groundwork for the Human Microbiome Project
(HMP), an initiative of the National Institutes of Health that aims to
characterize, for the first time, "the microbial communities found at
several different sites on the human body, including nasal passages, oral
cavities, skin, gastrointestinal tract, and urogenital tract, and to
analyze the role of these microbes in human health and disease," according
to the HMP website.
His laboratory was the first to demonstrate that specific gut bacteria
direct the development of the mammalian immune system and provide
protection from intestinal diseases. This means, he says, that fundamental
aspects of health are absolutely dependent on microbial interaction within
our bodies. In addition, he says that many disorders whose incidences are
increasing in Western countries - such as inflammatory bowel disease,
multiple sclerosis, and asthma - involve a common immunologic defect believed
to be caused by the absence of intestinal bacteria. An understanding of the
beneficial immune responses promoted by gut bacteria may lead to the
development of natural therapeutics for immunologic and perhaps neurologic
diseases, says Mazmanian.
"This award is extremely well-deserved - Sarkis has revolutionized the way
we think about the interactions between microorganisms and people," says
Stephen L. Mayo, William K. Bowes Jr. Foundation Chair of Caltech's
Division of Biology, and Bren Professor of Biology and Chemistry. "His
research has had an important impact in making the connection between
personal hygiene and the immune system, and even neurological diseases like
autism."
When the award announcement went public, Mazmanian was in Armenia, his
native homeland, teaching a one-week course on host-microbial interaction
to PhD students at a molecular biology institute. He travels to the country
once a year to volunteer his services. The timing, he says, couldn't be
better, as he hopes to use some of the prize money to develop an
international educational outreach program.
"I think that when you have a windfall like this, the least you can do is
help people who are in need," says Mazmanian, who credits the members of
his lab for his research success. "In many countries, they are in need of
education and resources, like lab equipment, text books, you name it. It
would be a terrific if I could use the money to help advance science in
countries where there is hardship."
Mazmanian received his bachelor's degree in 1995 and his PhD in
microbiology in 2002, both from UCLA. Following a postdoctoral fellowship
at Harvard, he joined the Caltech faculty as an assistant professor in
2006. In 2012, he was promoted to professor of biology. In 2011, Mazmanian
was the recipient of a Burroughs Welcome Fund award for research in the
pathogenesis of infectious disease, and in 2008 he was awarded a Searle
Scholarship and was named one of *Discover* magazine's "20 Best Brains
Under 40," which highlighted young innovators in science.
This year's crop of 23 Fellows includes stringed-instrument bow maker
Benoît Rolland and mathematician Maria Chudnovsky; Mazmanian joins the
ranks of Caltech's previous MacArthur Fellows, including 2010 awardee John
Dabiri.
For more information on the 2012 MacArthur Fellows, visit the foundation
website at www.macfound.org.
Written by Katie Neith