2022 Microbiome Consortium Symposium

Session 1: COVID-19 and Microbiome Research in North Carolina

Melissa Miller, PhD, is a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. She is also the Director of the Clinical Microbiology and Molecular Microbiology Laboratories for UNC Medical Center. She received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University and completed the Medical and Public Health Microbiology Fellowship at UNC Hospitals. She is the chair of the American Society for Microbiology Clinical and Public Health Microbiology Committee, a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and an Editor for the Journal of Clinical Microbiology. Dr. Miller’s research interests include the development of accurate and cost-effective molecular tests for viral infections and the assessment of patient and healthcare outcomes associated with the implementation of new molecular technologies. She received the 2021 ASM Award for Research and Leadership in Clinical Microbiology and was a co-recipient of the 2021 ASM Special Recognition Award for leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Miller is also the recipient of the NC Governor’s Award for Excellence in Public Service, which is the highest honor a state employee can receive for dedicated service to the State of North Carolina and its citizens.

Matthew Kelly, MD, is an Assoicate Professor of Pediatrics and an Assoicate Research Professor of Global Health at Duke University. His research is broadly focused on elucidating the complex interactions that exist between the host microbiome and exogenous pathogens that cause infections in children. There are several ongoing projects evaluating: 1) the impact of the upper respiratory microbiome on the risk of colonization and invasion by bacterial respiratory pathogens among infants in Botswana; 2) associations between the gut microbiome of pediatric stem cell transplant recipients and the risk of infections (bloodstream infection, C. difficile infection) and graft-versus-host disease; and 3) the role of the gut and respiratory microbiomes in mediating COVID-19 infection susceptibility and disease severity in children. Ultimately, Dr. Kelly aims to develop strategies that use targeted modification of the microbiome for the prevention of infections in children.

Session 2: Innovation in Microbiome Analysis

Susan Sumner, PhD, is a Professor of Nutrition and Pharmacology at UNC Chapel Hill. She directs the Metabolomics and Exposome Laboratory at the UNC Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute. Dr. Sumner is working to make personalized medicine and precision nutrition a reality.  Using state-of-the-art metabolomics and exposome technologies, Dr. Sumner’s team determines how molecules that are present in our tissues and biological fluids are associated with states of health and wellness. Through this approach, biomarkers are discovered that can lead to new diagnostics for the early detection and diagnosis of disease, to monitor treatment and intervention, and to inform the development of intervention strategies.  

 Dr. Sumner’s research activities in Personalized Medicine and Precision Nutrition span across domain areas of maternal and child health, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, medication and chemical exposures, cancer, and drug addiction. She served as the PI of the NIH Common Fund Eastern Regional Comprehensive Metabolomics Center from 2012-2019. Dr. Sumner has served as the Director/MPI of an Untargeted Analysis Laboratory for the NIEHS funded Human and Children’s Health Exposure Analysis Resource (CHEAR and HHEAR) programs since 2015.  She also directs the NIDDK funded NORC Metabolism and Metabolomics Core at UNC Chapel Hill. Dr. Sumner is a MPI of a NHLBI RO1 on biomarkers of cardiovascular disease, as well as for a NIDDK RO1 to reveal mechanisms of ALDH1L1 polymorphisms.  She serves as a co-investigator on several grants (funded by NICHD, NIEHS, and NIDDK) to examine environmental influences (c.f., drugs/medications, diet, chemicals) early in life on health outcomes.  Most recently, Dr. Sumner and colleagues received a grant from the NIH Common Fund to serve as the Metabolomics and Clinical Assay Center for the Nutrition for Precision Health Study.

Dr. Sumner earned a B.S. and Ph.D. in the Department of Chemistry at North Carolina State University, and completed postdoctoral research in the Laboratory of Chemistry at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. 

Daniel van der Lelie, PhD, has worked for the last ten years in a senior management role in pharma-oriented biotechnology, agriculture, environmental sciences and on the interphase between biological sciences and nanotechnology. At Brookhaven National Laboratory he was the founder of the microbiology group, and the co-founder of the group for bioinspired assembly of nanomaterials. In 2011 he founded the Center for Agriculture and Environmental Biotechnology at Research Triangle Institute, and built an asset portfolio that led to the Center’s acquisition in 2013 by FMC Corporation, where he assumed the role of Global Director of Ag BioSolutions R&D. After leaving FMC in June 2016, he cofounded and became the Chief Scientific Officer of Gusto Global, a startup company that is developing microbiome-based next-generation immune therapeutics for modulation of the immune system. As Gusto’s Chief Scientific Office, Dr. van der Lelie focused the company’s efforts on two major programs driven by insights in the gut microbiome: immune oncology and inflammation.

Since becoming Gusto’s Chief Scientific Officer, he has played a critical role in defining Gusto’s strategic vision, and to translate this into an action plan that is successfully being implemented to develop Gusto’s core facilities and technology platforms, create strategic partnerships with academic and commercial entities, define and license technologies, build an IP portfolio, and to obtain startup funding from VC and strategic investors.

Session 3: Regulation of Microbiome-Based Products

Paul Carlson, Ph. D., is a principal investigator in the Laboratory of Mucosal Pathogens and Cellular Immunology, Division of Bacterial, Parasitic, and Allergenic Products, Office of Vaccines Research and Review, CBER, FDA. Dr. Carlson received his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh; he performed postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan in the laboratory of Dr. Phil Hanna. His research at FDA has focused on infections caused by the enteric pathogens Clostridium difficile and Vancomycin resistant Enterococcus (VRE) species, specifically, 1) mechanisms of C. difficile pathogenesis; 2) development of genetic tools to study C. difficile; 3) host response to C. difficile; 4) the role of the host microbiota in C. difficile colonization resistance; 5) bacteriophage therapy against VRE.

Dr. Carlson is a member, and former chair, of the FDA microbiome working group, the Joint Agency Microbiome (JAM) working group, and was a member of the Microbiome Interagency Working Group (MIWG). His regulatory responsibilities include product (Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Control) review for fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) products, defined live biotherapeutic products, and bacteriophage therapies.

Jennifer Kuzma, PhD is the Goodnight-NCGSK Foundation Distinguished Professor in the School of Public and International Affairs, and co-founder and co-director of the Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Center at NC State University.   Prior to her current position, she was associate professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota (2003-2013); study director at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM); and an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Risk Policy Fellow at the US Dept. of Agriculture. She has over 150 scholarly publications on emerging technologies, their societal and ethical implications, and governance systems and has been studying these areas for over 25 years.  Kuzma has held several national and international leadership positions, including on committees for the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA), NASEM, AAAS, Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), Council of Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST), and World Economic Forum.  In 2014, she received the SRA Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer Award for her contributions to the field of risk analysis and in 2017-2018 she was awarded the Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Science Policy. In 2019 she was elected a lifetime Fellow of AAAS for her distinguished work in anticipatory governance of new technologies, and methods for oversight policy analysis.

Ward Peterson, PhD, Chairman & CEO, is a co-founder of Symberix. He brings 20 years of experience in discovery and development of new chemical and biological entities from early drug discovery to late-stage clinical trials. Dr. Peterson held scientific and executive positions at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Inspire Pharmaceutics from 1998 to 2011, and since then has provided executive consulting services to various life-science organizations including Croma Pharma as CSO, GrayBug Vision as Senior VP, Liquidia, Neurotech, Ono Pharma, and Hatteras Venture Partners. He led the scientific team at Inspire Pharmaceuticals as SVP of Research and Preclinical Development/Scientific Affairs. While serving on the Executive Team at Inspire, Dr. Peterson participated in fundraising substantial equity capital prior to the acquisition of the company by Merck & Co. in 2011. He earned his BA in Physics from Pomona College and PhD in Biophysics from University of California, Berkeley. He is a co-inventor on 15 issued patents.

Carmella Moody, PhD, is an adjunct Associate Professor within the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. She has over 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry specializing in regulatory affairs, project management, and quality assurance. Dr. Moody has expertise in the development of small molecules, biotechnology, biologic and combination products. She is currently the Director for Regulatory Affairs at Research Triangle Institute (RTI). In this role, she provides non-clinical, clinical, and CMC (chemistry, manufacturing, and controls) support for central nervous system, oncology, anti-infective, respiratory and stem cell products.

Session 4: Industry Research in the Triangle

Hannah Tuson, PhD, is the Director of Discovery for Locus Biosciences, Inc. Prior to joining Locus Biosciences, Hannah earned her B.S. in Biochemistry at Lafayette College, followed by her Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her doctoral research in Doug Weibel’s lab focused on studying how bacteria sense and respond to their local environments. Hannah also performed post-doctoral research under Julie Biteen at the University of Michigan. There, she used single-molecule fluorescence imaging to interrogate the dynamics of proteins involved in starch capture and breakdown in the human gut microbiome bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. Hannah joined Locus in late 2017 and has had the opportunity to work across nearly all areas of the company, with a particular focus on synthetic biology and phage engineering. More recently, she has been helping to guide early-stage research into treatment of inflammatory bowel disease using various phage modalities.

Tracy Raines, PhD, is the Chief Innovation Officer at AgBiome, a biotechnology company discovering and developing agricultural products from microbiomes. In her role, she aligns the team around the company vision, implements strategies, and builds partnerships with existing and potential collaborators. Tracy has a long history in building discovery programs and teams in multiple biotech companies. She received her undergraduate degree in Biology from Virginia Tech and her PhD in Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology from UNC - Chapel Hill.

Nathan Cude, PhD, is a Senior Scientist in the Microbial Discovery department of Novozymes North America. His background is in bacteriology, microbial ecology, and plant-microbe interactions. At Novozymes, he is a technical lead identifying and screening microbial candidates to develop crop inoculants for bioagricultural applications.

Y. Jun Goh, PhD, is a Sr. Microbiologist and Technical Lead for the Microbiology Program at AgBiome. Prior to joining AgBiome in 2021, Jun was a Sr. Researcher at NC State University and Lead for the Probiotic Functional Genomics Project, with research interests in the molecular mechanisms involved in health-promoting functions of probiotic microbes, development of gene replacement and CRISPR editing tools, engineering of probiotic lactobacilli for vaccine delivery and biotherapeutic applications and have led- and co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications. Jun received her PhD degree in Food Microbiology at the University of Nebraska in 2005 and continued to pursue her Postdoctoral work in probiotic research under the mentorship of Dr. Todd Klaenhammer at NC State University.

Keynote Speaker

Ralph Baric, PhD, is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. He has spent the past three decades as a world leader in the study of coronaviruses and is responsible for UNC-Chapel Hill’s world leadership in coronavirus research. For these past three decades, Dr. Baric has warned that the emerging coronaviruses represent a significant and ongoing global health threat, particularly because they can jump, without warning, from animals into the human population, and they tend to spread rapidly.

The Baric Lab uses coronaviruses as models to study the genetics of RNA virus transcription, replication, persistence, pathogenesis, genetics, and cross-species transmission. He has used alphavirus vaccine vectors to develop novel candidate vaccines. Dr. Baric has led the world in recognizing the importance of zoonotic viruses as a potentially rich source of new emerging pathogens in humans, with detailed studies of the molecular, genetic, and evolutionary mechanisms that regulate the establishment and dissemination of such a virus within a newly adopted host. Specifically, he works to decipher the complex interactions between the virion and cell surface molecules that function in the entry and cross-species transmission of positive-strand RNA viruses.