Our focus is understanding the role of gut microbiota in the development and potential treatment of acute childhood malnutrition.

Our research suggests that repairing the gut microbiome, in addition to providing sufficient nutrients and calories, is key to restoring the health of infants and children with acute malnutrition.

Research Abstract | Publications | In the News


Who we are

Members of our diverse, supportive, highly interactive and interdisciplinary lab family have developed and applied experimental and computational approaches to define mechanisms that underlie the assembly and expressed functions of human gut microbiomes plus their effects on the host.

Meet our team »

Click photo to enlarge.

A shared sense of purpose

The members of our lab, past and present, embody hope, trust, humility, kindness, generosity and gratitude. They have created an environment of support for one another, and a shared sense of purpose in the pursuit of answers to incredibly complex, daunting, yet inspiring questions.

Eras of the Microbiome Symposium, 2024

A mother and her child in Kurigram, Bangladesh, who participated in a clinical trial of a microbiome-directed food. Photo credit: Ishita Mostafa

Clinical trials underway

The microbiome-directed food developed by our team in collaboration with our partners at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh (icddr,b) is now being evaluated in clinical trials supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The trials, carried out in collaboration with WHO and UNICEF, will involve nearly 20,000 children in seven countries.

About the trials »


Motivated by hope

Work by the Gordon Lab — in collaboration with Tahmeed Ahmed, MBBS, PhD, and his group — has led to the development of new microbiome-directed therapies for combating childhood malnutrition. Dr. Ahmed is executive director of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh (icddr,b).

Video credit: Johnson & Johnson

Principle Investigator

Jeffrey I. Gordon, MD

The research conducted by Dr. Gordon and his collaborators, in the lab and beyond, has transformed our understanding of the gut’s microbial communities and their role in human health and biology.

Jeffrey I. Gordon CV »