ISB

Two ISB papers are in this year’s #STATMadness bracket 🏀

Round 1 voting is open — help us advance!

Vote here:
🔗 www.statnews.com/feature/stat...

2026 STAT Madness 2026 bracket Welcome to STAT Madness, a bracket-style contest to find the best innovation in science and medicine. Explore groundbreaking innovations from

Our metagenomic diet-tracking method made it into #STATMadness this year! doi.org/10.1038/s422...

Vote for us! isbscience.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?...

@isbscience.org @uwbioe.bsky.social @natmetabolism.nature.com @cdiener.com @medunigraz.at @chmoei.bsky.social @geeksthatspeak.bsky.social

Simulations of your gut may predict which probiotics will stick A “digital gut” predicted which probiotics and high‑fiber diets would take hold in people's guts and produce healthier outcomes.

"Simulations of your gut may predict which probiotics will stick" www.sciencenews.org/article/prob...

Great reporting on our recent @plosbiology.org paper by @norabradford.bsky.social in Science News 📰

@isbscience.org

New research from Drs. Sean Gibbons and Nick Quinn-Bohmann at @isbscience.org show that computer models of gut metabolism can predict whether probiotics will successfully establish in an individual’s microbiome: https://bit.ly/40vWnGB

#PersonalizedMedicine

This is yet another demonstration of the clinical relevance of MCMMs for precision health and nutrition (gibbons.isbscience.org/publications/).

We hope to start testing these personalized, MCMM-designed interventions in prospective human trials in the next year.

Metabolic modeling reveals determinants of prebiotic and probiotic treatment efficacy across multiple human intervention trials Prebiotic and probiotic interventions can induce therapeutically relevant shifts in the human microbiome, but their effects are variable across individuals. This study shows that metabolic models can ...

Our latest is out today in @plosbiology.org:

"Metabolic modeling reveals determinants of prebiotic and probiotic treatment efficacy across multiple human intervention trials"

@isbscience.org @uwbioe.bsky.social @uwgenome.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Will It Stick? How to Tell Whether Probiotics and Prebiotics Will ‘Take’ Researchers used computer models to predict whether probiotics will “take” in individual microbiomes and how prebiotics shape gut chemistry.

Gibbons Lab researchers show that gut metabolism models can predict whether probiotics will take hold — and how diet shapes health-related molecules in the gut. A thoughtful step toward more personalized microbiome therapies. isbscience.org/news/health/...
@plosbiology.org @gibbological.bsky.social

Celebrating Dr. Mary E. Brunkow on @seattlemag.bsky.social’s Most Influential list — a nod to her Nobel-winning science and deep impact on both the Seattle community and global research.
seattlemag.com/column/most-...

🎇 @isbscience.org Professor Dr. Nitin Baliga has been elected to the American Academy of Microbiology 2026 Fellowship Class.

This highly selective honor recognizes exceptional scientific achievement and leadership in the microbial sciences. Congratulations! https://bit.ly/4kLnHdB

What If We Could Catch Disease Earlier, Before Symptoms Start? Buck Institute perspective calls for a new approach to detecting disease risk by listening to early biological changes

We Wait for Disease to Shout. What if We Listened When Biology Whispered? Perspective describes the path to scientific wellness. Great read from Dr. Nathan Price's team at the Buck. www.buckinstitute.org/news/what-if...
@cp-cellsystems.bsky.social

Forbes 250: America’s Greatest Innovators The Forbes Innovator 250: America's Greatest Innovators showcases the visionaries shaping our future. Find the full list of great minds and the mark they are leaving on our history.

Always nice when deep scientific innovation gets mainstream recognition. Congrats to Dr. Lee Hood on being named to @forbes.com’ “250 America’s Greatest Innovators.”
Decades of work building the technologies and ideas that shaped modern biology. www.forbes.com/sites/alexkn...

Huge congrats to @nitinbaliga.bsky.social on being elected to the American Academy of Microbiology as part of the 2026 Fellowship Class 🎉

A wonderful recognition of his impact in microbiology and systems biology — and of the leadership he brings to ISB.
isbscience.org/news/press-r...

Congrats to my @isbscience.org colleague @nitinbaliga.bsky.social for being elected as a Fellow to the American Academy of Microbiology! So well deserved! 🎉🦠

Behind the Breakthroughs: ISB’s Postdoctoral Fellows in Focus At ISB, postdocs enter the scientific workforce with passion, vision, and advanced training – bringing the fresh ideas that fuel discovery.

At ISB, discovery doesn’t just happen in journals — it happens through people. Our postdoctoral fellows are driving experiments, mentoring students, and building the next generation of systems biologists.
isbscience.org/news/philant...

Seoyoung (Trinity) Yun Seoyoung (Trinity) Yun's STISA research project explores the effect lidocaine cream has on the viability of yeast in order to better understand the overall effect anesthesia may have on health.

Meet Seoyoung (Trinity) Yun! Trinity is a senior at Interlake HS in WA who participated in our System Thinkers in STEM Ambassadorship. Check out Trinity’s STiSA project: see.isbscience.org/projects/seo... #STEMsystemsthinkers @isbscience.org

Jane Karaca Jane's STISA project brings us an educational video and a research paper to help us all better understand the chemical mechanisms, ecological significance and scientific applications of bioluminescenc...

Meet Jane Karaca! Jane is a junior at Eastlake HS in WA who participated in our System Thinkers in STEM Ambassadorship. Check out Jane’s STiSA project: see.isbscience.org/projects/jan... #STEMsystemsthinkers @isbscience.org

AI-Era Early Detection Is Shifting Healthcare from Reactive to Proactive Institute for Systems Biology researchers argue that combining systems biology technologies could detect disease earlier and make healthcare more proactive.

A new review explores how #AI and longitudinal #multiomics data could detect early transitions from wellness to disease — transforming healthcare from reactive to proactive.

It’s a shift from single biomarkers to dynamic, systems-level health trajectories.

🔗 isbscience.org/news/cancer/...

Integration of modern technologies to advance dietary assessment - Nature Food Accurately measuring dietary intake has long been a challenge in nutrition research. Integrating emerging tools with multisampling strategies and a dietary assessment methodology aligned with the rese...

Check out our review on emerging technologies for diet tracking in Nature Food. 👇

This paper was led by @catalinacuparencu.bsky.social, with @cdiener.com and others: www.nature.com/articles/s43...

@isbscience.org @uwbioe.bsky.social @uwgenome.bsky.social

Dr. Sean Gibbons: Toilet Visits, How Often And How Long - November 6, 2025 Podcast Episode · The Last Show with David Cooper · 2025-11-07 · 11m

What does a “healthy” bathroom routine actually look like? @isbscience.org microbiome researcher Dr. Sean Gibbons explains the science — from frequency to stool form — in a quick 11-minute podcast. Short, smart, and very listenable. @gibbological.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/d...

Before we stop crossing out 2025 and remembering to write 2026 at the top of our lab notebooks, check out all that our Seattle institutes accomplished in 2025! 🎉

@isbscience.org: https://bit.ly/4su411j
BBI: https://bit.ly/49fJZ30
@fredhutch.org: https://bit.ly/4qJf5Wi
KPWHRI: https://bit.ly/4su5Fjv

Pooled single-cell CRISPRa/i screens for functional genomics in bacteria at scale Pooled CRISPR screens using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) have emerged as powerful tools to uncover gene function, map regulatory networks, and identify genetic interactions. However, the inh...

Pooled CRISPR screens with transcriptomics readout arrived for bacteria. We introduce mapSPLiT, an approach to profiling transcriptional responses to CRISPR perturbations at scale. Collaborative work with Carothers, Zalatan, and Seelig groups at UW&@isbscience.org www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/4

🥉 Taking the #3 spot in our 2025 Post Countdown is the @isbscience.org Virtual Microbiome Symposium!

Don't worry if you missed out, the full recap is online: https://bit.ly/4qeNDQ4
https://bsky.app/profile/scienceinseattle.com/post/3m5wob373ce2k

Celebrating the complex beauty of the season. ❄️🧬 From all of us at ISB, have a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year!

2025 Year in Review: Breakthroughs, Milestones & Moments That Defined ISB In 2025, the Institute for Systems Biology marked a pivotal year — one that coincided with our 25th anniversary and underscored our enduring role in shaping the future of biomedical

2025 was a milestone year for ISB. We didn't just look back at our 25-year legacy; we used it to launch discoveries that will shape the future of health.

In our 2025 Year in Review, explore the science and the successes that made the past 12 months truly historic.

isbscience.org/news/our-peo...

Another banner year for the Gibbons Lab. Great job, @gibbological.bsky.social!

Microbial Metabolites and Human Health Take Center Stage at ISB’s 2025 Virtual Microbiome Symposium ISB's 2025 Virtual Microbiome Symposium focused on how microbial metabolites shape human physiology, development, and disease.

💡 Curious how your gut microbes talk to your brain, immune system, and hormones? @isbscience.org's 2025 Virtual Microbiome Symposium explored these questions with leaders in the field — over 1,000 attendees worldwide registered. Catch the highlights and full sessions: isbscience.org/news/health/...

@isbscience.org postdoc @n8ritz.bsky.social (Venkatesh Lab) was selected as a 2026 WRF Postdoc Fellow. The fellowship supports early-career researchers pursuing high-impact science. Congrats Nate! 🎉
@flash-point.bsky.social
More: tinyurl.com/y772pr2j
Venkatesh Lab: venkatesh.isbscience.org

2025 ISB Microbiome Symposium - YouTube The 2025 ISB Microbiome Symposium was a virtual scientific event hosted by the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) on December 12, 2025. The symposium brough...

If you missed the 2025 @isbscience.org Virtual Microbiome Symposium (theme: how microbial metabolites influence the brain, the immune system, & metabolism), the videos of the talks and the panel discussion are now available here:

youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Thanks to all who helped make it happen!

Nearly 1,000 people have registered so far! Don't miss out!

Metagenomic estimation of dietary intake from human stool - Nature Metabolism Diener et al. present a method that allows the estimation of dietary intake from human stool by detecting food-derived DNA in faecal metagenomes.

Top #Citations 2025: 9️⃣🧪

@cdiener.com @gibbological.bsky.social et al ( @isbscience.org @medunigraz.at ) present a new method to estimate dietary intake from human stool by detecting food-derived DNA in faecal metagenomes.