The Elinav lab studies the microbiome, the immense microbial ecosystem that resides within the mammalian intestine and in other mucosal surfaces.

This microbial community is dominated by bacteria, but also includes archaea, eukarya and viruses. The Elinav group aims to decode how the vast microbiome repertoire functions in ways that benefit the host. The gut microbiome is shaped and regulated by multiple factors including our genomic composition, the local intestinal niche, and multiple environmental factors such as our nutritional repertoire and bio-geographical location. The mucosal immune system, as one example, co-evolves with the microbiome from birth, and intimately interacts with it through multiple mechanisms that remain elusive to date. Importantly, it has been recently highlighted that dysregulation of a number of genetic or environmental factors leads to aberrant host-microbiome interactions, ultimately predisposing the host to diseases including chronic inflammation, obesity, the metabolic syndrome and cancer.