Rob Knight, PhD, awarded the Pioneer Award; Omar Akbari, PhD, and Shadi Dayeh, PhD, receive the New Innovator Award, recognizing innovative approaches to biomedical research
Three University of California San Diego researchers have received prestigious awards through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program, including the Pioneer Award, the program’s top honor.
These awards, supported by the NIH Common Fund, were created to support unconventional approaches to major challenges in biomedical and behavioral research. The awards are given to exceptionally creative scientists proposing high-risk, high-impact research at all career stages.
Rob Knight, PhD, was awarded the Pioneer Award to support his research into developing new approaches to support healthy microbiomes. Knight is a professor of pediatrics in the UC San Diego School of Medicine, professor of bioengineering and computer science and engineering in the Jacobs School of Engineering and director of the UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation.
The Pioneer Award was established in 2004 to encourage researchers at all career levels “to pursue new research directions and develop groundbreaking, high-impact approaches” to broaden their field and explore new research opportunities. Knight is one of 11 visionary researchers to receive this award in 2019.
Omar Akbari, PhD, associate professor of cell and developmental biology in the Division of Biological Sciences, and Shadi Dayeh, PhD, professor of electrical and computer engineering in the Jacobs School of Engineering, were both awarded the New Innovator Award. This award honors early career scientists and supports their efforts to conduct trailblazing new research in the biomedical sciences. Akbari and Dayeh join a class of 60 young researchers receiving the award this year.
“UC San Diego fosters a collaborative research environment, where faculty are encouraged to take risks, innovate, and change the world,” said UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “By learning how microbes affect health, how vector-borne diseases are transmitted, and how the brain is structured, these three faculty members are working to improve health and enrich human life and society. I’m looking forward to seeing their breakthroughs make a difference.”
Rob Knight, PhD
Knight joined the UC San Diego faculty in 2015. His work is focused on understanding the multitude of ways in which microbes affect our daily lives, from their presence in and on our bodies and how they are involved with disease to how they play roles in diverse ecosystems around the world. His lab uses advanced DNA sequencing and computational techniques to analyze and understand microbial communities.
With funding from the Pioneer Award, Knight will work on new, integrative approaches for studying how the gut microbiome can be optimized to help prevent and treat infections. Changes in microbial activity in the gut can impact organs throughout the body, with dramatic health effects. Knight plans to develop methods for mapping the interactions between dietary inputs, gut bacteria and immune response to better understand how diet influences immune system function, generating new opportunities for promoting a healthy microbiome and treating infections.
Prior to joining UC San Diego, Knight was a faculty member at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he worked on such projects as profiling the microbes found in the saliva of komodo dragons to support conservation efforts and understanding the differences in the microbiomes of babies born via cesarean section or delivered vaginally. His team has also developed a number of bioinformatics and laboratory tools to support the study of microbiomes, generating resources for scientists around the world.
Knight’s work has garnered a number of accolades, including the 2017 Massry Prize and the 2015 Vilcek Prize in Creative Promise for the Life Sciences. He has co-founded several citizen science efforts to support microbiome studies, including the Earth Microbiome Project and the American Gut Project. He is author of Follow Your Gut: The Enormous Impact of Tiny Microbes and co-author of Dirt is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child’s Developing Immune System, books to help non-scientists understand the importance of a healthy microbiome.
