UPDATES FROM THE HOWITT LAB

January 4, 2024

Congratulations to Eli, Claire, Michael, and their amazing collaborators on publishing their research article in Cell!

Protists are widely present in the gut microbiotas of animals, including humans! In this paper, we described new species of symbiotic protists belonging to the parabasalia phyla that engage in distinct transkingdom competition with bacteria and generate disparate immune responses in their hosts. We think this paper is just the tip of the iceberg in how the diverse biology of protists impact the gut environment.

This paper was also highlighted by Nature and presents our findings for a more general audience.

This group of bizarre gut microbes is unexpectedly complex

November 14, 2023

Congratulations to Eli, Michael, and their collaborators (especially Shelly Silverstein) on publishing their research article in mBio!

In this paper, Eli surveyed the diversity of intestinal parabasalid protists in wild and captive reptiles, and determined how gene expression is altered in these protists with shifts to cold temperatures. This fun project all started when Eli’s tortoise Shelly kindly donated a sample, which led to the discovery that she harbors commensal protists in her gut! Pictured on the right is Shelly with a beautiful SEM of her protist, Trichomitus batrachorum.

May 30, 2023

Congratulations to Connie, Gabe, Matthew, Michael, and their collaborators in the Salzman Lab on publishing their research article in PNAS!

Why do intestinal tuft cells sense the metabolite succinate and orchestrate type 2 immunity when it doesn’t appear to help them clear parasite infections? This work reveals that tuft cells detect spikes in commensal-derived succinate during microbiota disturbances, and the resulting type 2 immune response leads to increased Paneth cell numbers and profound shifts in antimicrobial peptide (AMP) production. These changes, in turn, alter the bacterial microbiota composition. This suggests that tuft cells and type 2 immunity may not only play anti-parasitic roles—instead, tuft cells may utilize succinate sensing and type 2 immunity to modulate intestinal bacterial homeostasis.

H&E image of the small intestinal epithelium, where a spike in commensal-derived succinate led to Paneth cell hyperplasia in the crypts and altered AMP production.

April 11, 2023

Congratulations to Matthew, Claire, and Michael on publishing their research article on schistosomiasis and human colonic tuft and goblet cells in Parasite Immunology!

January 18, 2023

Congratulations to Flora for passing her Doctoral Qualifying Exam!

October 14, 2022

Congratulations to Connie and Leila for winning prizes at this year’s Pathology Department retreat!

Connie wins the Charles B. Carrington Memorial Award for outstanding poster presentation, while Leila won first place for the retreat science art competition with her beautiful microscopy image, “Orgaynoids” (shown at the right)!

August 4th, 2022

Congratulations to Michael, Katherine, and Miles on publishing their review article about succinate, tuft cells, and implications for food allergies!

June 21st, 2022

Welcome Flora!

Flora joins the lab as a graduate student.

May 27th, 2022

Goodbye Matthew!

Once again, we bid another of the founding Howitt Lab members a bittersweet goodbye as he moves on to attend medical school at the University of Colorado. Thanks for everything, and good luck in the next phase of your career!

March 29th, 2022

Congratulations to Leila for being awarded the Stanford Undergraduate STEM Fellows Program Fellowship!

March 22nd, 2022

Congratulations to Gabe for being awarded the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship!

January 28th, 2022

Connie filmed a video explaining her research for the A.P. Giannini Fellowship, and it’s finally released!

Check out the video here: Crossroads: Uncovering Novel Signaling Molecules to Clear Parasites from our Guts

December 9th, 2021

Congratulations to Gabe for passing his Doctoral Qualifying Exam!

October 28th, 2021

Congratulations to Miles for passing his Doctoral Qualifying Exam!

June 29, 2021

Welcome Gabe, Miles, Leila, and Claire!

The lab doubles in size! Welcome to our newest members: graduate students Gabe Barrón and Miles Tyner, undergraduate student Leila DeSchepper, and research technician Claire Mechler.

June 7, 2021

Congratulations to Eli for being awarded the Pediatric IBD and Celiac Disease Research Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Stanford Maternal & Child Health Research Institute!

April 2, 2021

Goodbye Jess!

We bid the first ever Howitt Lab member a bittersweet goodbye as she moves on to a new research associate position at Mitokinin. Thanks for all that you’ve done for us, and good luck in the next phase of your scientific career!