Lab News

2025

• PI Jack Gilbert was elected as a fellow into the American Academy of Microbiology.

• PI Jack Gilbert's proposal with Co-PI Vanessa Scott to fund the StartBlue Ocean Enterprise Accelerator received a $13.5 million dollar award from NOAA.

2024

• PI Jack Gilbert was included on Clarivate's list of most highly cited researchers in the field of Microbiology for 2024.

• Graduate student Vanessa Minnis joined the SIO delegation to attend COP29 in Azerbaijan. She was featured in an interview about her experience at the event: Empowering the Next Generation of Climate Leaders

• Graduate student Kara Wiggin was featured in an interview in the San Diego Union Tribune, Oyster-linked norovirus case count reaches 81 in San Diego County and a segment on CBS 8, Plasticizers prove to be harmful, found in most packaged food.

• The REM program had a table at the Birch Aquarium's Indigenous Ocean Day, where volunteers led hands-on microbiology activities and shared information about the internship program. Project Scientist Sarah Allard, graduate student Vanessa Minnis, undergraduate students Audrey Schneider and Jacob Hizon, and former REM interns Mayra Fonseca, Talia Quiroga, Harshika Rathod, Rebecca Mendoza, and community partner Benoni Pantoja all participated.

• Graduate student Joshua Tran and Scientific Programs Coordinator Mary Buschmann traveled to Boston for the first deployment of the GutLab in the Nutrition for Precision Health study. 

• Graduate student Joshua Tran and Dr. Gilbert traveled to Portugal for the Seerave Foundation retreat, where Joshua presented a poster, "Determining the Impact of Dietary Intervention on Inflammation and Microbiome Composition in Patients with Recurrent Polyps Post-Colonoscopy."

• Graduate student Neil Gottel successfully defended his dissertation, "Germination and Inhibitory Activity of Spore-Forming Microbes on Surface Materials Used in Healthcare Settings."

• Graduate student Ryan Chung successfully defended his masters thesis, "Exploring the Interplay Between Bacteriophages and Vibrio parahaemolyticus Strains in the San Diego Bay Area."

• Graduate student Emily Kunselman successfully defended her dissertation, "Microbiome Dynamics and Pathogen-Driven Impacts in Marine Mollusks: Insights from Oysters and White Abalone"

• Graduate student Dottie Dothard received the Triton Student Employee of the Year and the Student Centeredness awards from UCSD. She was also featured for a student success story on UCSD's website.

• Graduate student Emily Kunselman's research was featured in The Microbiologist: Oysters succumb to deadly viral outbreak - but only at higher water temperatures and on the Scripps website: Oyster Virus Detected in San Diego Bay Likely Worsened by Warmer Waters. 

• Project scientist Sarah Allard, director of the Research Experience and Mentoring (REM) program, brought the first cohort of 4 REM students to Washington, DC in March for the Emerging Researchers National in STEM meeting, where they presented posters on their summer research.

• Postdoctoral Fellow Mariah Coley received a yearlong GloCal Health Fellowship to support her research project in Kenya, "Seasonal and landscape contributions to soil microbiome-gut microbiome relationships and child diarrheal disease burden in western Kenya."

• PI Jack Gilbert became the President of Applied Microbiology International.

• PI Jack Gilbert was featured in the Netflix documentary, Hack Your Health: Secrets of the Gut

• PI Jack Gilbert was featured in several podcasts, including:

  • Metabolic Mind: How your shapes your body and mind with Dr. Jack Gilbert

  • Goodness Exchange: What’s Your Gut Telling You? Secrets of the Microbiome and More w/ Dr. Jack Gilbert

  • The Inside Matters Podcast: Prof Jack Gilbert - co-founder of Earth Microbiome Project

  • Finding Genius Podcast: Intermittent Fasting And Microbiome | How To Take Charge Of Your Gut Health