Kids with autism show altered gut microbiome-brain interactions
A collaborative study by scientists from UCLA and USC may have unlocked new information about autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the gut microbiome, the trillions of microorganisms living inside the intestines. The study, recently published in Nature Communications, looked at the gut microbiome of kids with ASD, a condition that can make it difficult to understand social cues and interact with others. In the study, children with ASD had fewer neuroactive metabolites, which are generated by gut microbes when they break down food components such as amino acids and complex carbohydrates to create energy and communicate with the nervous system.
Changes in the relative amounts of such metabolites may interfere with the signaling between the gut and brain, influencing emotions and associated behaviors. Emeran A. Mayer, MD, a distinguished research professor at UCLA’s Division of Digestive Diseases, contributed to the study along with co-senior author Jennifer S. Labus, PhD, an adjunct professor in the same department. Read full article in UCLA Health News & Insights
Grace M. Aldrovandi, MD, CM, receives lifetime achievement award for pediatric research
Dr. Aldrovandi, chief of the division of infectious diseases at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital and professor of pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, is the 2025 recipient of the Douglas K. Richardson Award for Perinatal and Pediatric Healthcare Research by the Society for Pediatric Research.
This prestigious award honors a lifetime of achievement in the field of child health research. She is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking work in pediatric HIV, the role of the microbiome in infant development and the impact of breast milk on child health. Her research has significantly advanced the understanding of how microbial communities influence outcomes in HIV-exposed but uninfected infants, leading to new insights into early-life immunity.
A dedicated physician-scientist, Dr. Aldrovandi has maintained continuous NIH funding for over two decades, trained future physician-scientists and mentored students from underrepresented backgrounds.
Andrea S. Shin, MD, MSCR, receives 2025 ACG Established Investigator Bridge Funding Award
The American College of Gastroenterology’s (ACG) Established Investigator Bridge Funding Award is a two-year award to serve as bridge funding for established investigators. This bridge funding grant of $150,000 per year for two years is designed to support researchers principally focused on digestive or liver diseases, and to sustain their competitive, patient-oriented research programs during a gap in federal program funding. Dr. Shin, health sciences associate clinical professor of medicine, will apply the funding to support her research on microbiome endophenotypes over time in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Three Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center members named among the world's most influential researchers
The annual Highly Cited Researchers list, compiled by the international data and analytics firm Clarivate, identifies scholars whose work has been cited most often in papers published by other researchers in their fields over the past decade. Those chosen for the 2024 list have authored multiple studies that rank in the top 1% in the number of scholarly citations worldwide. Congratulations to Drs. Elaine Hsiao, Aldons J. "Jake" Lusis, and Emeran A. Mayer. Read more in UCLA Newsroom and see full list of UCLA faculty members and researchers who were recognized
Emeran A. Mayer, MD, interviewed on the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) podcast
Dr. Mayer, founding director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center and director of the G. Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology of Stress discusses the role of microbes in gut-brain communication on season three, episode 26 of in Podcast.
Arpana Church, PhD, interviewed for The Best of ObesityWeek®
Dr. Church, co-director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center, was selected for faculty interviews of highlights and key takeaways at ObesityWeek®. She discusses “How are the brain and gut microbiome linked to obesity.” Watch video here (scroll down on page to find her interview)
Discrimination can cause changes in the gut microbiome, study says
In a new study published in Frontiers in Microbiology, UCLA Health researchers have found that people who experienced discrimination had pro-inflammatory bacteria and gene activity in their gut microbiome that was different from those who did not experience discrimination. The researchers could also predict with 91% accuracy which study participants faced discrimination just by analyzing their gut microbiome using stool samples. Arpana Church, PhD, co-director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center and co-lead author, said researchers tend to study the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which is the body’s stress management system, to gauge how discrimination affects the body. But she and Tien S. Dong, MD, PhD, director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center Biorepository Core and co-lead author, were interested in how discrimination affects the brain-gut axis. “There’s a lot of research on how discrimination affects the HPA axis and how that leads to disease, but that’s only one part of the story,” Dong said. Read more in UCLA Health News & Insights
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) selected paper on air pollution inhalation exposure and the microbiome as a ‘Paper of the Month’
A new study led by UCLA Health researchers Jesus Araujo, MD, MSc, PhD, associate professor of environmental health, and Jonathan P. Jacobs, MD, PhD, co-director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center, found that exposure to ultrafine particulate matter can alter the composition of microorganisms living in the gut. The study was featured as “Extramural Paper of the Month” by the NIEHS, which funded the study.
Gut health tied to psychological resilience: New research reveals gut-brain stress connection
Stress has a profound impact on our lives, contributing to a staggering $300 billion in health care costs and missed workdays in the United States alone each year. The way we handle stress — our resilience — can make a significant difference in how we navigate life’s challenges. New research from UCLA has provided groundbreaking insights into the biology of resilience, revealing that it involves not only the brain but also the gut microbiome. Arpana Church, PhD, co-director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center and senior author of the study, discusses the study in PsyPost and in theravive.
”Gut-healing” probiotic supplements are everywhere right now. Here’s what the science says
In case you haven’t noticed, we’re living in the “heal-your-gut” era. Within the past few years, there’s been a wild influx of influencers, documentaries, cookbooks and news articles breaking down how you can eat this or take that to “fix” your gut, and help address a range of health problems. Arpana Church, PhD, co-director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center, who has dedicated her career to studying the gut microbiome, believes probiotics – as in, the actual bugs in fermented foods – are (generally) great. They have so much potential that it’s no surprise companies are packaging them into caspules to sell as all-purpose wonder-workers. But probiotic-rich foods and probiotic supplements are not one and the same. Read more in this SELF article
$9.5M grant to study relationship between polyphenol intake, Alzheimer’s prevention, and the brain-gut-microbiome system
UCLA Health researchers, in collaboration with researchers from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, have received $9.5 million award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with support from European funding agencies — The Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Public Health Agency Health & Social Care (HSC) — to study the effects of polyphenols on cognitive health and the brain-gut microbiome system. In this five-year study, Arpana Church, PhD, co-drector of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center and contact principal investigator, Emeran A. Mayer, MD, co-principal investigator and founding director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center, and co-investigators will explore the relationship between polyphenols, cognitive function, and brain health through four project aims in 50+ year old adults with enhanced risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Polyphenols — a key component of Mediterranean diets and found in berries, grapes, green tea, and cocoa — may delay cognitive decline by preserving brain function and structure through gut microbiome metabolites by altering the physiology of the host’s secondary bile acids, highlighting their potential role in Alzheimer's disease prevention. Read more in UCLA Health News & Insights
Caregiving adversity leads to changes in the oral microbiome, stress markers
In a new study, led by Bridget L. Callaghan, PhD, UCLA Health researchers found that youth who experienced caregiving adversity (CA), described as having been mistreated or in foster care, had less variety in their oral microbiome compared to youth who remained living with their biological families. The same group also had more disease-causing bacteria in their oral microbiome, and their microbiome seemed less reactive to recent stress. Read more in UCLA Health News & Insights
Infants’ microbiomes shaped by physical contact with caregivers
A new study led by researchers at UCLA Health found that early life caregiving experiences including skin-to-skin contact at birth, number of individuals in physical contact with the infant at birth, and the amount of time infants were in physical contact with caregivers were significantly associated with the composition of the infant gut microbiome up to six months of age. These factors explained up to 11% of variation in the microbiome among infants and were associated with altered abundance of important early life gut bacteria such as Bifidobacterium. Learn more in UCLA Health News & Insights
Your gut microbes may influence how you handle stress
A study published in Nature Mental Health, led by Arpana Church, PhD, and Tien S. Dong, finds distinct biological signatures in the microbiomes of people who are highly resilient in the face of stressful events.
UCLA Health is the only institution awarded two NIH SCORE grants; both focus on the understudied area of sex differences
Karen Reue, PhD, is professor and vice chair of UCLA Human Genetics, one of two programs at UCLA Health designated as a Specialized Center of Research Excellence (SCORE) to study the role of sex differences and major medical conditions affecting women. Lin Chang, MD, professor of medicine, and Emeran A. Mayer, MD, professor of medicine in physiology and psychiatry, are co-principal investigators leading the other SCORE, which studies sex differences in brain-gut microbiome interactions in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded the highly competitive SCORE grant to 12 programs nationwide. UCLA Health is the only institution with two separate research groups recognized as a SCORE, and both are multiyear grant awardees. Read more in UCLA News & Insights
UCLA receives grant to study gut-brain signaling in youth with anxiety, depression
Bridget L. Callaghan,PhD, Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center member and assistant professor of psychology at UCLA, was awarded $3,891,851 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to study the microbiota-gut-brain axis pathways associated with depression and anxiety in adversity-exposed adolescents. Read more on UCLA News & Insights
Feeding the lonely brain
A new UCLA Health study has found that women who perceive themselves to be lonely exhibited activity in regions of the brain associated with cravings and motivation towards eating especially when shown pictures of high calorie foods such as sugary foods. The same group of women also had unhealthy eating behaviors and poor mental health. Arpana Church, PhD, a researcher and co-director of the UCLA Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center, wanted to research the negative impacts of loneliness, especially as people continue to be working remotely after the COVID-19 pandemic, and how the brain interplays with social isolation, eating habits, and mental health. While it is established that obesity is linked to depression and anxiety, and that binge eating is understood to be a coping mechanism against loneliness, Gupta wanted to observe the brain pathways associated with these feelings and behaviors. Read the story on UCLA Health News & Insights
Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut - Now Streaming on Netflix
Delve into the digestive system with this lighthearted and informative documentary that demystifies the role gut health plays in our overall well-being. Dr. Arpana Church, co-director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center, provides expert commentary in this Netflix documentary that aired April 26. Stream it today!
Elizabeth Volkmann, MD, MS, honored by American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI)
Dr. Volkmann, associate professor in the UCLA Division of Rheumatology, the founder and co-director of the UCLA Connective Tissue Disease-Related Interstitial Lung Disease (CTD-ILD) Program, and the director of the UCLA Scleroderma Program, was one of three UCLA physician-scientists among its 2024 Early Career Awardees. She received the Young Physician-Scientist Award (YPSA) which recognizes physician-scientists who are early in their first faculty appointment and have made notable achievements in their research. Read more in UCLA Announcements
