In The News
PubMed: Microbiome- An error has occurred, which probably means the feed is down. Try again later.
-
FFMS: From Pixels to Phyllosphere and New Ways of Seeing Microbial Life
Join us on Friday, February 6, at 12 pm in Marsico Hall Room 7004 (or on Zoom) for our First Friday Microbiome Seminar. We’ll hear from Orlando Arguello-Miranda (NC State) on “Generative AI and Microbiome Imaging”, followed by two Trainee Microbiome Club talks on how immune regulation and metabolites shape plant leaf microbiomes under stress. … Read more
-
Long Read Sequencing on the go!
The Microbiome Core was awarded CFAC Fall RFA 2025 funding to develop long-read sequencing capabilities within the Core. These funds will boost our efforts to introduce a new long-read sequencing service that supports advanced research needs.
-
β(1–4) GOS and Gut Health: Enhancing Intestinal Integrity
Yunan Hu, a PhD candidate in Dr. Azcarate-Peril’s laboratory, has recently published a manuscript in Food Bioscience demonstrating that the prebiotics β(1–4) GOS and humanized β(1–4) GOS strengthen intestinal barrier function. Using human primary colonic monolayers, the study shows that both compounds upregulate MUC2 and key tight-junction genes, thereby enhancing epithelial integrity. These findings were … Read more
-
The 2025 Jim Brown Award!
Undergraduate researchers Nehal Devpura, Yoo Rim Lee, and Jin Ho Kim presented a poster at the North Carolina Branch–American Society for Microbiology (NC-ASM) conference highlighting their collaborative project, Prebiotic-Driven Dynamics of Lactobacillus Co-Cultures. The poster received the 2025 Jim Brown Award for Best Poster in recognition of this work.
Meet the Director
Dr. M. Andrea Azcarate-Peril
Director
M. Andrea Azcarate-Peril, Ph. D. is a Professor of Medicine in the School of Medicine at UNC Chapel Hill. Dr. Azcarate-Peril currently conducts research in modulation of the host-associated microbiota by prebiotics and probiotics. She has extensive experience in physiology and functional genomics of probiotic strains. Dr. Azcarate-Peril uses molecular biology, genomics, and next-generation sequencing tools to address questions relevant to the role of the intestinal microbiota in human health and disease.
The North Carolina Microbiome Consortium
Mission and Goals
The North Carolina Microbiome Consortium provides the opportunity for interested and committed participants in academia, industry and the public to seek and share knowledge concerning the science of the microbiome. It seeks to foster interdisciplinary connections among scientists in diverse fields who share a common interest in microbial communities and with those who develop the tools needed to study and understand these communities. By coming together in this common pursuit of knowledge and the exchange of ideas, participants acknowledge the depth of local expertise; seek to establish North Carolina as a recognized leader in microbiome research and innovation, and aim to create greater opportunities for microbiome research and related industries in the state.
Research
Beneficial Modulators of the Gut Microbiota
The overall goal of my research is to investigate the impact and mechanisms involved in the beneficial modulation of the gut microbiota by prebiotics (functional foods that stimulate growth of gut native beneficial bacteria) and probiotics (live bacteria that benefit their host). I specifically aim to develop prebiotic and probiotic interventions as alternatives to traditional treatments for microbiota-health related conditions, and to advance microbiota-based health surveillance methods.
| Aljumaah MR, Bhatia U, Roach J, Gunstad J, Azcarate Peril MA. The microbiome, mild cognitive impairment, and probiotics: A randomized clinical trial in middle-aged and older adults. Clin Nutr. 2022 Nov;41(11):2565-2576. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2022.09.012. Epub 2022 Sep 28. PMID: 36228569. | |
| Arnold JW, Roach J, Fabela S, Moorfield E, Ding S, Blue E, Dagher S, Magness S, Tamayo R, Bruno-Barcena JM, Azcarate-Peril MA. The pleiotropic effects of prebiotic galacto-oligosaccharides on the aging gut. Microbiome. 2021 Jan 28;9(1):31. doi: 10.1186/s40168-020-00980-0. Erratum in: Microbiome. 2021 Feb 26;9(1):56. PMID: 33509277; PMCID: PMC7845053. | |
| Arnold JW, Whittington HD, Dagher SF, Roach J, Azcarate-Peril MA, Bruno-Barcena JM. Safety and Modulatory Effects of Humanized Galacto-Oligosaccharides on the Gut Microbiome. Front Nutr. 2021 Apr 7;8:640100. doi:10.3389/fnut.2021.640100. PMID: 33898497; PMCID: PMC8058378. |