Anthony Fodor, PhD

Research Summary

Anthony Fodor’s lab has published numerous studies that have used sequencing technology to associate particular taxa within the human microbiome to human disease. In collaboration with CGIBD colleagues (Keku, Rawls and Sandler) his lab published one of the first descriptions of a human cohort in which the presence of colorectal adenomas was linked to the state of the microbial community. As a member of the data analysis working group of the Human Microbiome Project (HMP), he participated in “in person” and “virtual” conferences and weekly telephone conferences that led to the publication of the “main” HMP publications. In a separately published companion paper, he and his colleagues provided the first detailed description at the OTU level of the HMP dataset. This paper was one of the first to note that the enterotype hypothesis did not seem to be broadly supported in gut metagenomic datasets.  In a separate companion paper, he  described the “most wanted” taxa within the HMP dataset defined as prevalent taxa within human populations for which no reference genome was available.  He has collaborated with CGIBD members on a number of diseases including: colorectal cancer, colorectal adenomas, diverticulosis, IBD, IBS, pancreatic cancer, and anorexia nervosa.

Relevance of Research to CGIBD Mission:  Anthony Fodor has served as an expert analyst on the microbiome research of a number of CGIBD members. Because the microbiome is a major focus of the CGIBD, and because the microbiome theme involves the largest group of CGIBD members, Dr. Fodor’s research clearly supports the mission of the Center.

CGIBD Focus Area(s):  Microbiome

Collaborators:  Arthur, Azcarate, Carroll, Gulati, Hansen, Keku, Miao, Peery, Rawls, Sandler, Sartor