Person
Rawls, John F.
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Biography and Research Interest
Research interests: We seek to understand how the intestinal microbiome contributes to vertebrate physiology and disease. To that end, we leverage complementary zebrafish and mouse models to study the integrative physiology of host-microbiome interactions. This work has identified novel and conserved mechanisms by which intestinal bacteria regulate dietary fat metabolism and systemic innate immunity. We also apply genomic approaches in these animal models to understand the transcriptional regulatory pathways utilized by the intestinal epithelium to mediate host responses to the microbiome. Using this approach, we have identified mechanisms of transcriptional and chromatin regulation that have been conserved during vertebrate evolution and also contribute to modern human diseases such as the inflammatory bowel diseases, obesity, and diabetes. To further advance our understanding of obesity pathophysiology, we developed the zebrafish as a model system for studying adipose tissues and identifying new environmental and genetic regulators of adiposity. We are also engaged in translational research in humans and animal models to define microbial and metabolic determinants of obesity and efficacy of weight loss intervention. Grounded in comparative and integrative physiology, our research program has been effective in discovering ancient mechanisms of host-microbiome interaction that are conserved across animal taxa and contribute to the etiology of modern human diseases. These insights are advancing our understanding of host-microbiome relationships in vertebrate physiology and identifying novel therapeutic targets for human diseases ranging from inflammatory bowel disease to obesity to neurological disorders.
Biography: I grew up in Lexington KY, received my undergraduate education at Emory University, then pursued my Ph.D. in developmental biology at Washington University in the lab of Dr. Stephen Johnson. I stayed at Washington University for my postdoctoral training in gastroenterology and host-microbiota interactions in the lab of Dr. Jeffrey Gordon. I started my independent laboratory in 2006 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, then relocated my lab to Duke University in 2013.
Biography: I grew up in Lexington KY, received my undergraduate education at Emory University, then pursued my Ph.D. in developmental biology at Washington University in the lab of Dr. Stephen Johnson. I stayed at Washington University for my postdoctoral training in gastroenterology and host-microbiota interactions in the lab of Dr. Jeffrey Gordon. I started my independent laboratory in 2006 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, then relocated my lab to Duke University in 2013.
Non-Zebrafish Publications
Bear, J.E., Rawls, J.F., and Saxe, C.L. III. (1998) SCAR, a WASP-related protein, isolated as a suppressor of receptor defects in late Dictyostelium development. J Cell Biol.142 (5): 1325-1335.
McFall-Ngai, M., Hadfield, M., Bosch, T., Carey, H., Domazet-Loso, T., Douglas, A., Dubilier, N., Eberl, G., Fukami, T., Gilbert, S., Hentschel, U., King, N., Kjelleberg, S., Knoll, A., Kremer, N., Mazmanian, S., Metcalf, J., Nealson, K., Pierce, N., Rawls, J., Reid, A., Ruby, N., Rumpho, M., Sanders, J., Tautz, D., and Wernegreen, J. (2013) Animals in a bacterial world: a new imperative for the life sciences. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 110(9): 3229-3236.
Leulier, F., McNeil, L., Lee, W.-J., Rawls, J.F., Cani, P., Schwarzer, M., Zhao, L. and Simpson, S. (2017) Integrative physiology: at the crossroads of nutrition, microbiota and animal physiology. Cell Metabolism 25(3): 522–534.
Martiny, J.B.H., Whiteson, K., Bohannan, B., David, L.A., Hynson, N., McFall-Ngai, M., Rawls, J.F., Schmidt, T., Abdo, Z., Blaser, M., Bordenstein, S., Bréchot, C., Bull, C., Dorrestein, P., Eisen, J., Garcia-Pichel, F., Gilbert, J., Hofmockel, K., Holtz, M., Knight, R., Welch, D.M., McDonald, D., Methe, B., Mouncey, N., Mueller, N., Pfister, C., Proctor, L., and Sachs, J. (2019) The Emergence of Microbiome Centres. Nature Microbiology 5: 2–3.
Murdoch, C.C., and Rawls, J.F. (2019) Commensal microbiota regulate vertebrate innate immunity - insights from the zebrafish. Frontiers in Immunology 10:2100.
McCann, J.R., Bihlmeyer, N.A., Roche, K., Catherine, C., Jawahar, J., Kwee, L.C., Younge, N.E., Silverman, J., Ilkayeva, O., Sarria, C., Zizzi, A., Wootton, J., Poppe, L., Anderson, P., Arlotto, M., David, L.A., Wei, Z.Z., Dressman, H.K., Granek, J.A., Valdivia, R.H., Newgard, C.B., Shah, S.H., Seed, P.C.2, Rawls, J.F. 2, and Armstrong, S.C2. (2021) The Pediatric Obesity Microbiome and Metabolism Study (POMMS): Methods, Baseline Data, and Early Insights. Obesity 29(3): 569-575.
Heppert, J., Davison, J.M., Kelly, C., Padilla Mercado, G., Lickwar, C.R., and Rawls, J.F. (2021) Transcriptional programmes underlying cellular identity and microbial responsiveness in the intestinal epithelium. Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 18: 7–23.
Ye, L., and Rawls, J.F. (2021) Microbial influences on gut development and gut-brain communication. Development 148(21):dev194936.
Lickwar, C.R., Davison, J.M., Kelly, C., Padilla Mercado, G., Wen, J., Davis, B.R., Tillman, M.C., Semova, I., Andres, S.F., Vale, G., McDonald, J.G., and Rawls, J.F. (2022) Transcriptional integration of distinct microbial and nutritional signals by the small intestinal epithelium. Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology 14(2):465-493.
McCann, J.R., and Rawls, J.F. (2023) Essential amino acid metabolites as chemical mediators of host-microbe interaction in the gut. Annual Reviews in Microbiology. 77:479-497.