Stanford University · Microbiology & ImmunologySonnenburg Lab
Justin L Sonnenburg · Stanford, California
Research Focus
Dr. Justin Sonnenburg's lab at Stanford University focuses on understanding the gut microbiome and its role in human health. By studying how different bacteria contribute to the production of beneficial metabolites, like short-chain fatty acids, the lab aims to restore balance in gut microbiomes that have been negatively affected by modern diets. Their work has important implications for treating metabolic and inflammatory diseases linked to gut health.
gut microbiomeshort-chain fatty acidsdietary fibersmicrobial cocktailsinflammatory diseases
Research Aims
3AIM 01Characterize strains of bacteria that can degrade dietary fibers and produce beneficial metabolites.
AIM 02Develop and optimize microbial cocktails for enhancing short-chain fatty acid production.
AIM 03Test the effectiveness of these microbial cocktails in mouse models of low diversity gut microbiomes.
Skills the Lab Values
cell culturein vitro fermentation techniquesmetagenomic sequencingmouse modelsmicrobial strain isolation
Output against the department
Publications223top 28% of dept.135th of 486
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations40ktop 6% of dept.27th of 486
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.