{"694042":{"#nid":"694042","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Beyond Bacteria: Abigail Lind Earns MIRA Grant to Unlock New Insights Into Human Gut Microbes","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ETrillions of microorganisms make their home in the human gastrointestinal tract, where they influence everything from digestion and vitamin synthesis to immune response. This microbial world is remarkably diverse \u2014 a complex ecosystem of bacteria, archaea, fungi, viruses, and single-celled organisms called protists. Yet research has largely focused on just one group: bacteria.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ENow, new work from\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech School of Biological Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E Assistant Professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/people\/%20abigail%20lind\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbigail Lind\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E is looking beyond bacteria by investigating a common gut protist called\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EBlastocystis\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EIn support of her research, Lind\u0026nbsp;has received a prestigious Maximizing Investigators\u2019 Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).\u0026nbsp;The MIRA program provides investigators with five years of flexible funding, allowing them to pursue ambitious research in promising new directions.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EProtists have long been understudied, Lind says, because until recently, these organisms were considered possible pathogens. \u201cRecently, studies have found that they are actually correlated with many different positive health markers, like reduced inflammation and positive cardiovascular outcomes,\u201d she explains. \u201cBut we still know very little about these organisms.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cWith this research, we want to lay a foundation to accelerate future work,\u201d Lind adds. \u201cWe want to understand what these protists do, how they interact with microbial partners, and how that might ultimately impact their human hosts.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2 dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EUnderstanding the Microbiome Community\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EThe protists are notoriously tricky to work with. They swell up and \u201cpop\u201d if they\u2019re exposed to oxygen, and nobody is quite sure what they eat. \u201cWe\u2019ve developed new techniques to work with them in the lab, which is why we\u2019re able to do this research now,\u201d Lind says.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EWhile decades of work have gone into cultivating gut bacteria in the lab, cultivating\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EBlastocystis\u003C\/em\u003E is a different story. \u201cMany of the techniques developed to cultivate bacteria kill this protist,\u201d Lind says, \u201cso we had to be creative.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EPostdoctoral scholar\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EFredrick Leon\u003C\/strong\u003E tested combinations of nutrients ranging from store-bought protein powders to boiled wheatgrass solutions, eventually settling on the formula they use today. But it still is unclear what exactly the organism is eating \u2014 and how.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cWe know the strategies that bacteria use to break down and utilize food, but these protists don\u0027t have the same genes,\u201d she says. \u201cDo they eat something completely different? Do they eat the same things but with a different strategy? And how does that impact the microbial community and human host? These are the questions that we\u0027re answering.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2 dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBuilding a Genetic Blueprint\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003ELind also aims to develop genetic tools for studying\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EBlastocystis.\u003C\/em\u003E Those tools could help researchers uncover which genes are responsible for specific functions, providing a clear map of what the protist does and how it does it.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003EBy establishing new ways to grow, manipulate, and study\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EBlastocystis,\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003ELind hopes the project will provide answers about this organism while creating new tools to advance protist research more broadly.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022\u003E\u201cOur goal is to make\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EBlastocystis\u003C\/em\u003E a system that researchers can really begin to understand,\u201d Lind says. \u201cWhat we learn from this one organism could give us a foundation for studying many other protists and, ultimately, a more complete picture of the human gut microbiome.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESurprisingly little is known about gut protists. Lind\u2019s research is tackling fundamental questions about what they eat, how they function, and how they interact with the world around them.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Surprisingly little is known about gut protists; Lind\u2019s research is tackling fundamental questions about what they eat, how they function, and how they interact with the world around them."}],"uid":"35599","created_gmt":"2026-11-12 15:34:40","changed_gmt":"2026-11-13 15:28:28","author":"sperrin6","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-11-13T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2026-11-13T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"681788":{"id":"681788","type":"image","title":"A illustration of Blastocystis. Lind hopes the project will provide answers about this protist while creating new tools to advance research more broadly. (Credit: Adobe Stock)","body":"\u003Cp\u003EA illustration of \u003Cem\u003EBlastocystis\u003C\/em\u003E. Lind hopes the project will provide answers about this protist while creating new tools to advance research more broadly. (Credit: Adobe Stock)\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1794501618","gmt_created":"2026-11-12 16:40:18","changed":"1794583236","gmt_changed":"2026-11-13 15:20:36","alt":"single-celled organisms with a yellow interior and rimmed in purple","file":{"fid":"266242","name":"AdobeStock_283869164.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/11\/12\/AdobeStock_283869164.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/11\/12\/AdobeStock_283869164.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":5482642,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/11\/12\/AdobeStock_283869164.jpeg?itok=MuiUD8SZ"}},"681787":{"id":"681787","type":"image","title":"Lind_headshot2.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EAbigail Lind\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1794501161","gmt_created":"2026-11-12 16:32:41","changed":"1794592346","gmt_changed":"2026-11-13 17:52:26","alt":"A headshot of Abigail Lind","file":{"fid":"266273","name":"Lind_headshot2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/11\/13\/Lind_headshot2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/11\/13\/Lind_headshot2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":33930,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/11\/13\/Lind_headshot2.jpg?itok=_sDpWM4O"}}},"media_ids":["681788","681787"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"192250","name":"cos-microbial"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193653","name":"Georgia Tech Research Institute"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:sperrin6@gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESelena Langner\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EWriter \/ Editor\u003Cbr\u003EGeorgia Tech College of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}