Hanna H. Gray Fellows Program Award

Probiotics can populate the gut with a bevy of beneficial bacteria – but to be effective, those supplemental microbes need to stick around and multiply, not pass right through. Guillaume Urtecho is studying the genes that enable bacteria to set up shop in the gut. Urtecho plans to survey genetic variations in two different families of enzymes that bacteria use to shape their local environment to figure out which versions make the intestines a more habitable place for the helpful bacteria. The findings could guide the development of more effective probiotic therapies.