Description of Research Expertise

Research Program
Diet, the Gut Microbiome, and Host Metabolism

Program Summary
Dr. Wu is the Ferdinand G. Weisbrod Professor in Gastroenterology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania where he is the Co-Director of the Center for Molecular Studies in Digestive and Liver Disease. He was the inaugural Director and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the American Gastroenterological Association Center for Gut Microbiome Research and Education and is an elected member of both the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. He is the Co-Director of the PennCHOP Microbiome Program, a campus-wide initiative to accelerate research in the microbiome across the entire university campus. The current research programs in the Wu laboratory focus on the mutualistic interactions between the gut microbiota and the host with a particular focus on metabolism. Growing evidence suggests that diet impacts upon both the structure and function of the gut microbiota that, in turn, influences the host in fundamental ways. Current areas of investigation include the effect of diet on the composition of the gut microbiota and its subsequence effect on host metabolism related to nitrogen balance as well as its impact on metabolic pathways in the intestinal epithelium, principally fatty acid oxidation. In 2018, Dr. Wu was appointed as the Director of the Penn Center for Nutritional Sciences and Medicine (PenNSAM), a joint collaboration between the Penn School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. PenNSAM focuses on integrating human clinical metadata, traditional dietary assessments, and nutritional biomarkers with the latest high throughput molecular profiling technologies together with advanced biostatistical and computational tools in a transformational approach to improve human health and ameliorate disease through diet and nutrition.

Lab personnel:
Aaron Hecht, MD, PhD
Lillian Chau, MS
Elliot Friedman, PhD
Dylan Curry, PhD
Johanna Lemons, PhD
Bryce Perler, MD
Lindsey Herman, BS

Selected Publications

Soto Ocaña J, Friedman ES, Keenan O, Bayard NU, Ford E, Tanes C, Munneke MJ, Beavers WN, Skaar EP, Bittinger K, Zemel BS, Wu GD, Zackular JP.: Metal availability shapes early life microbial ecology and community succession mBio : 2024.

Ticer TD, Tingler AM, Glover JS, Dooley SA, Kendrick J, Zackular JP, Devkota S, Wu GD, Mahalak K, Engevik A, Engevik MA.: Bacterial metabolites influence the autofluorescence of Clostridioides difficile Front Microbiol 15 : 1459795,2024.

Fowler EA, Farias Amorim C, Mostacada K, Yan A, Amorim Sacramento L, Stanco RA, Hales ED, Varkey A, Zong W, Wu GD, de Oliveira CI, Collins PL, Novais FO.: Neutrophil-mediated hypoxia drives pathogenic CD8+ T cell responses in cutaneous leishmaniasis J Clin Invest 134 : e177992,2024.

Firrman J, Friedman ES, Hecht A, Strange WC, Narrowe AB, Mahalak K, Wu GD, Liu L.: Preservation of conjugated primary bile acids by oxygenation of the small intestinal microbiota in vitro mBio 15 : e0094324,2024.

Ananthakrishnan AN, Gerasimidis K, Ho SM, Mayer E, Pollock J, Soni S, Wu GD, Benyacoub J, Ali B, Favreau A, Smith DE, Oh JE, Heller C, Hurtado-Lorenzo A, Moss A, Croitoru K.: Challenges in IBD Research 2024: Environmental Triggers Inflamm Bowel Dis 30 : S19-S29,2024.

Hecht AL, Harling LC, Friedman ES, Tanes C, Lee J, Firrman J, Hao F, Tu V, Liu L, Patterson AD, Bittinger K, Goulian M, Wu GD.: Dietary carbohydrates regulate intestinal colonization and dissemination of Klebsiella pneumoniae J Clin Invest 134 : e174726,2024.

Zong W, Friedman ES, Allu SR, Firrman J, Tu V, Daniel SG, Bittinger K, Liu L, Vinogradov SA, Wu GD.: Disruption of intestinal oxygen balance in acute colitis alters the gut microbiome Gut Microbes : 2024.

Rimal B, Collins SL, Tanes CE, Rocha ER, Granda MA, Solanki S, Hoque NJ, Gentry EC, Koo I, Reilly ER, Hao F, Paudel D, Singh V, Yan T, Kim MS, Bittinger K, Zackular JP, Krausz KW, Desai D, Amin S, Coleman JP, Shah YM, Bisanz JE, Gonzalez FJ, Vanden Heuvel JP, Wu GD, Zemel BS, Dorrestein PC, Weinert EE, Patterson AD.: Bile salt hydrolase catalyses formation of amine-conjugated bile acids Nature : 2024.

Conrad MA, Bittinger K, Ren Y, Kachelries K, Vales J, Li H, Wu GD, Bushman FD, Devoto M, Baldassano RN, Kelsen JR.: The intestinal microbiome of inflammatory bowel disease across the pediatric age range Gut Microbes : 2024.

Lewis JD, Daniel SG, Li H, Hao F, Patterson AD, Hecht AL, Brensinger CM, Wu GD, Bittinger K; DINE-CD; SPARC IBD Investigators.: Surgery for Crohn's Disease Is Associated With a Dysbiotic Microbiome and Metabolome: Results From Two Prospective Cohorts Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol : 2024.

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Academic Contact Information

421 Curie Boulevard
915 Biomedical Research Building II/III

Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: 215-898-0158
Patient appointments: 800-789-7366