Executive Committee Member, Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine
Dr. Turnbaugh’s research focuses on metabolic activities performed by microbes that colonize the adult human body. His team uses interdisciplinary approaches in preclinical models and human cohorts to study the mechanisms through which the gut microbiome influences nutrition and pharmacology. Dr. Turnbaugh earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular biology from Whitman College and a doctoral degree in microbial genetics and genomics from Washington University in St. Louis. From 2010 to 2014, he was a Bauer Fellow at the FAS Center for Systems Biology at Harvard University, where he established an independent research group before starting his faculty position at UCSF. From 2020 to 2024, he hosted the “Science is Fun!” podcast, interviewing researchers from around the world.
