Renuka Nayak, MD, PhD

The Nayak Lab studies the human gut microbiome and its impact on the treatment of autoimmune and rheumatic disease. We use cutting-edge technologies, such next-generation sequencing, anaerobic microbiology, metabolomics, gnotobiotics, single-cell phenotyping, and CRISPR to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which microbes impact human health and disease. We are also a translational research lab that obtains and studies patient samples; our goal is make discoveries with strong clinical implications. 

In the Nayak Lab, you can expect to become an expert on multiple of the following skills:

• Analysis and visualization of large datasets using programming languages such as R
• Generation and analysis of sequencing libraries, such as metagenomics, transcriptomics and transposon-sequencing libraries
• In vitro anaerobic microbiology
• Analytical chemistry, including HPLC, LC-MS, MALDI-TOF and qTOF
• Gnotobiology and mouse models of autoimmunity
• Single cell immune profiling
• Analysis of patient specimens from observational cohorts and interventional studies

We seek to understand the mechanisms by which gut microbes impact the treatment of autoimmune disease using cutting-edge technologies. We strive to advance precision medicine for patients with rheumatic disease.