Hartmann Lab Postdoc Ryan Blaustein recently received a TL1 Fellowship supported by the National Institutes of Health-National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NIH-NCATS). The award provides multidisciplinary training to clinician scientists and engineers to conduct translational research to improve care of children and adolescents.

Ryan’s proposed project aims to determine the impacts of chemotherapy and antibiotics on the intestinal microbiome (i.e., community of bacteria living in the gut) in children using experimental systems. This research is important because pediatric patients receiving intensive cancer treatments are at an increased risk for developing microbiome-associated health complications, such as diabetes, asthma, obesity, and antibiotic-resistant infections.

To advance potential cancer treatment strategies that may mitigate such risks, we will use multi-omic methods to test the hypotheses that (1) chemotherapeutics and antibiotics have distinct and overlapping effects on the microbiome and (2) certain therapeutic combinations have synergistic impacts on microbiome metabolic functioning during and after treatment. These studies will provide a strong foundation for future translational research on microbiome dynamics in pediatric oncology.

Ryan’s program will be co-mentored by Dr. Patrick Seed at the NU Feinberg School of Medicine and Lurie Children’s Hospital, kicking off a new, exciting collaboration for the Hartmann Lab!