Eran Elinav

The Elinav lab studies the microbiome, the immense microbial ecosystem that resides within the mammalian intestine and in other mucosal surfaces.

This microbial community is dominated by bacteria, but also includes archaea, eukarya and viruses. The Elinav group aims to decode how the vast microbiome repertoire functions in ways that benefit the host. The gut microbiome is shaped and regulated by multiple factors including our genomic composition, the local intestinal niche, and multiple environmental factors such as our nutritional repertoire and bio-geographical location. The mucosal immune system, as one example, co-evolves with the microbiome from birth, and intimately interacts with it through multiple mechanisms that remain elusive to date. Importantly, it has been recently highlighted that dysregulation of a number of genetic or environmental factors leads to aberrant host-microbiome interactions, ultimately predisposing the host to diseases including chronic inflammation, obesity, the metabolic syndrome and cancer.

The Elinav lab has identified various important mechanisms that participate in the reciprocal regulation between the host and the intestinal microbiome, and has demonstrated that disruption of these factors leads to dysbiosis and susceptibility to common multi-factorial disease in mice and humans both. Understanding the molecular basis of host-microbiome interactions may lead to the development of new microbiome-targeting treatments.

Awards

Levinson Award, 2016

Lindner Award, 2016

Rappaport Prize for Biomedical Research, 2015

Alon Award, 2013

Relevant Publications

Koren, T., Zeevi, D., Suez, J., … Elinav, E., et al. (2015). Growth dynamics of gut microbiota in health and disease inferred from single metagenomics samples.” Science, 349(6252), 1101–1106. DOI: 10.1126/science.aac4812

Levy, M., Thaiss, C.A., Zeevi, D., …Elinav, E. (2015). Microbiota-modulated metabolites shape the intestinal microenvironment by regulating NLRP6 inflammasome signaling. Cell, 163(6), 1428–1443. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.10.048 Zeevi, D., Korem, T., Zmora, N., … Elinav, E., et al. (2015). Personalized Nutrition by prediction of glycemic responses. Cell, 163(5), 1079–1094. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.11.001.

Suez, J., Korem, T., Zeevi, D.,…Elinav, E. (2014). Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the microbiota. Nature, 514(7521), 181–86. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13793

Thaiss, C.A., Zeevi, D., Levy, M.,…Elinav, E. (2014). Trans-kingdom control of microbiota diurnal oscillations promotes metabolic homeostasis. Cell,159(3), 514–29. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2014.09.048. E

Education

• MD, Hebrew University School of Medicine
• PhD, Weizmann Institute of Science