Ivaylo I. Ivanov, Ph.D.

Research

Hundreds of trillions of microorganisms live as an integral part of our body. In the gut, commensal bacteria form an evolutionarily established microbial ecosystem that performs vital metabolic, physiological, and immune functions. Dysregulation of this community profoundly affects host immune homeostasis and contributes to the pathogenesis of numerous metabolic and immune-mediated diseases, including inflammatory bowel diseases, obesity, metabolic syndrome, cancer, and intestinal infections. Our laboratory investigates the mechanisms by which specific members of the commensal microbiota modulate intestinal immune balance. Specifically, we focus on how these microbes control the equilibrium between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory T cells in the gut. By uncovering the molecular strategies that commensals use to shape host immunity, we aim to identify cellular and molecular targets that can be manipulated to selectively and reversibly modulate immune function to promote host health.

2025 Innovation Fund

As an Innovation Fund investigator, Ivaylo I. Ivanov, Ph.D., is teaming up with Andrew L. Goodman, Ph.D., to test whether medical drugs and gut microbes can activate the expression of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in the mammalian gut that reshape the gut microbiome. In collaborative preliminary studies, the pair found that the drug digoxin selectively activates expression of an otherwise silent AMP and that this AMP eliminates specific gut microbial taxa. They also identified gut microbes that eliminate the same taxa. For this project, the pair will identify other small molecules and microbes that activate silent AMPs and assess how this activation affects microbiome composition. This research combines Goodman’s experience in anaerobic microbial genetics and biochemistry, metabolomics, and the role of the microbiome in drug metabolism and drug response with Ivanov’s expertise in mucosal immunology and the impact of the microbiome on host immunity. Findings from this work could allow the team to leverage a naturally evolved and optimized microbial control system to remodel microbiome composition.

2017 Innovation Fund

As a 2017 Innovation Fund investigator, Ivanov’s lab collaborated with the lab of Pamela J. Bjorkman, Ph.D., to perform structural characterizations of the interactions between noninvasive microbes and intestinal cells. Findings from this research could reveal how bacteria interact with the intestine to modulate immune responses and identify mechanisms that help regulate normal bodily functions.