Suzanne Devkota, PhD
Research Profile
Suzanne Devkota, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Cedars-Sinai Division of Gastroenterology investigating the role of diet in shaping the community of bacteria that live in our intestines (the "gut microbiome"). Her research into the effects of dietary fat on host-microbe interactions in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) led to some of the first mechanistic insights into why "modern" diseases such as IBD, diabetes and food allergies have rapidly increased over the past 50-100 years. Her ongoing research focuses on the role of sulfur-reducing bacteria on host immune responses and on counteractive nutritional therapies. Devkota teams with Cedars-Sinai physicians to combine clinical and basic research utilizing patient samples, in vivo conventional and gnotobiotic animal models, and sequencing- and culture-based microbial methodologies to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying clinical phenomena. Her goal is to add a powerful new dimension to diagnosis and treatment through a better understanding of gut microbial contributions to disease.
Education
- Master's: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007
- Doctorate: University of Chicago, 2012
- Post Doctorate: Joslin Diabetes Center/Harvard Medical School, 2015
Cedars-Sinai Affiliations
Awards & Activities
- Branco-Weiss Fellow, Society in Science, 2013-18
- Clinical Emerging Leader Award, Medical Nutrition Council, 2012
- NIDDK-Keystone Symposium Scholarship-Gut Microbiome:Effector/Regulatory Networks, 2012
- Best Dissertation Award, Biological Sciences, The University of Chicago, 2012
- Member, U.S. Delegation to 61st Annual Meeting of Nobel Laureats and Students. Lindau, Germany, 2011
Publications
- Wang Y, Devkota S, Musch MW, Jabri B, Nagler C, Antonopoulos D, Chervonsky A, Chang EB. Regional mucosa-associated microbiota determine physiological expression of TLR2 and TLR4 in murine colon. PLoS One. 2010;5(10):e13607.
- Devkota S, Wang Y, Musch M, Leone V, Fehlner-Peach H, Nadimpalli A, Antonopoulos D, Jabri B, Chang EB. Dietary fat-induced taurocholic acid production promotes pathobiont expansion and colitis in IL-10-/- mice. Nature. 2012;487(7405):104-108.
- Devkota, S. Prescription drugs obscure microbiome analyses. Science. 2015;351(6272):452-453.
Languages Spoken
English