The Byrd Lab studies how the microbiome, the communities of bacteria, fungi and viruses that live in and on the body, influences human health. With a particular focus on the gut microbiome, researchers investigate how microbes shape immune system activity, disease progression, and responses to therapy.
The lab also studies microbes that reside directly within tissues, including tumors and gastrointestinal biopsies, to better understand how they influence local disease processes. To distinguish healthy microbial patterns from those associated with disease, the lab studies a healthy control population of 1,000 individuals and examines how lifestyle, genetics and other factors shape the gut microbiome and its interactions with metabolism and systemic immunity.
Allyson Byrd, PhD
Lab Members
Jay Jawahar, PhD
Vanessa Matti
Adithi Vishwanath
Research Projects
Steady-State Microbiome and Metabolome
The Byrd Lab studies how the gut microbiome and its metabolic products — known as the metabolome — shape human health.
Longitudinal Microbiome Dynamics in Patients With Cancer and Immune-Mediated Diseases
The Byrd Lab studies how the gut microbiome changes over time in people with cancer and other immune-mediated diseases and how those changes relate to disease activity and treatment responses.
Local Effects of Microbes in Tissues
The Byrd Lab studies how microbes influence health and disease — not just systemically through gut-derived metabolites, but locally within tissues themselves.
Featured Publications
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Building a blueprint for intra-tumoral microbial studies
Nat MedJayanth Jawahar, Allyson L Byrd -
Enrichment of oral-derived bacteria in inflamed colorectal tumors and distinct associations of Fusobacterium in the mesenchymal subtype
Cell Rep MedYounginger BS, Mayba O, Reeder J, Nagarkar DR, Modrusan Z, Albert ML, Byrd AL -
Gut microbiome stability and dynamics in healthy donors and patients with non-gastrointestinal cancers.
J Exp MedByrd AL, Liu M, Fujimura KE, Lyalina S, Nagarkar DR, Charbit B, Bergstedt J, Patin E, Harrison OJ, Quintana-Murci L, Mellman I, Duffy D, Albert ML, Milieu Intérieur Consortium. -
The human skin microbiome
Nature Reviews MicrobiologyByrd AL, Belkaid Y, Segre JA -
Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis strain diversity underlying pediatric atopic dermatitis
Sci Transl MedByrd AL, Deming C, Cassidy SKB, Harrison OJ, Yang WI, Conlan S, NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, Belkaid Y, Segre JA, Kong HH
Meet BRI’s Summer Interns 2026
Each summer, BRI welcomes undergraduate interns across our labs. Interns come from universities across the country to get hands-on research experience, learn new tools and techniques and explore careers in biomedical research.
Innovation Fund Backs Exciting New Research
Allyson Byrd, PhD, and Cate Speake, PhD, are exploring an innovative tool in immunology research. The questions they can ask are limitless.
Innovation Fund Spotlight: Exploring Immune System Cells and Gut Bacteria
Allyson Byrd, PhD, is an expert in the gut microbiome, the study of the tiny organisms that live inside our digestive system. James Lord, MD, PhD, is a gastroenterologist who has studied inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis for more than 20 years.
