M. Andrea Azcarate-Peril, PhD

EMAIL: azcarate@med.unc.edu

PERSONAL WEBSITE: https://www.med.unc.edu/microbiome/

PUBLICATIONS: Publications Link

My research program defines the mechanisms by which microbiome-directed interventions reshape microbial community structure, function, and host physiology, with particular emphasis on dietary glycans and rationally designed microbial consortia as tools to modulate barrier integrity, inflammation, infection resistance, and healthy aging. Trained in molecular microbiology, functional genomics, and microbial physiology, I apply ecological and quantitative frameworks to dissect how specific substrates, taxa, and metabolic functions assemble into cohesive, non-stochastic communities that exert reproducible effects on host tissues. This work spans mechanistic studies of prebiotics such as galacto-oligosaccharides and humanized glycans, discovery of microbial host isozymes, and development of experimental systems that couple culture-based approaches with high-throughput sequencing, metabolomics, and transcriptomics. As founding Director of the UNC Microbiome Core, I have translated this framework across hundreds of projects, establishing rigorous standards for microbiome study design, bioinformatic processing, and statistical interpretation, while advancing microbiome science from descriptive profiling toward causal, mechanism-driven intervention strategies.