Infectious disease and microbiome

Scientists at the Broad share ideas and launch collaborative projects to tackle key challenges. The IDM program includes collaborations across several Broad programs and platforms as well as many other labs in the Harvard/MIT community and beyond.

The Broad brings together researchers from a variety of fields — including biologists, bioengineers, chemists, computational biologists, geneticists, software engineers, and medical clinicians — to understand the role microbes play in health and disease; both acute infectious disease and complex diseases involving microbial dysbiosis. Researchers at the institute leverage genomic technologies to study the biological factors of both host and pathogen that may contribute to infection, with a special focus on diseases such as malaria, TB, Ebola, and Lassa fever, which collectively impact hundreds of millions of people every year. In addition, multi-faceted approaches including metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and metabolomics are being used to study chronic diseases such as type I diabetes and inflammatory bowel diseases.

Those involved in microbial research at the Broad also aim to:

• Identify new therapeutic targets and develop novel approaches to treating both chronic and infectious diseases
• Characterize microbial genetics and understand the relationship between microbial populations and human health
• Understand the mechanisms that drive antibiotic resistance

The Infectious Disease and Microbiome Program is led by Broad core institute member Deb Hung and institute member Ramnik Xavier.