T. McLaughlin

A toxic environment selects for specialist microbiome in poison frogs

This study shows that alkaloid exposure in poison frogs increases skin microbiome diversity and enables specific microbial adaptations to toxic environments.

Inhibition of hyaluronan synthesis prevents β-cell loss in obesity-associated type 2 diabetes

This study shows that inhibiting hyaluronan synthesis with 4-MU prevents β-cell loss in obesity-associated type 2 diabetes by increasing survivin expression and blocking apoptosis.

Engineering genetically-encoded synthetic biomarkers for breath-based cancer detection

This paper develops a breath-based cancer detection system using engineered D-limonene production in tumors, achieving high sensitivity and specificity in mice and predicting human tumor detection limits.