Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center
UCLA receives $20 million to establish Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center
Among the most promising areas of scientific inquiry is the study of the human microbiome and its effect on health. To fuel more rapid progress in this field, Andrea and Donald Goodman and Renee and Meyer Luskin have made a $20 million gift to establish the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center. Research at the center will focus on the microbiome’s role in disease prevention and the body’s immune response with the goal of developing new treatments.
Endowed fellowship in microbiome research
Applications are being accepted for the center's inaugural Goodman-Luskin Endowed Fellowship in Microbiome Research. The award of approximately $100,00 includes support for salary and project-related expenses to support excellence in microbiome research related to the center's focus areas.
Seminar series
Join us for this monthly seminar series where invited guest speakers, Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center faculty and UCLA trainees present their latest research findings and discuss evolving areas of interest in the many ways the microbiome interacts with human health.
Latest news
UCLA receives grant to study gut-brain signaling in youth with anxiety, depression
Bridget L. Callaghan, PhD, Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center member and assistant professor of psychology at UCLA, was awarded $3,891,851 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to study the microbiota-gut-brain axis pathways associated with depression and anxiety in adversity-exposed adolescents.
Feeding the lonely brain
A new UCLA Health study has found that women who perceive themselves to be lonely exhibited activity in regions of the brain associated with cravings and motivation towards eating especially when shown pictures of high calorie foods such as sugary foods. The same group of women also had unhealthy eating behaviors and poor mental health.
Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut - Now streaming on Netflix
Delve into the digestive system with this lighthearted and informative documentary that demystifies the role gut health plays in our overall well-being. Dr. Arpana Church, co-director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center, provides expert commentary in this Netflix documentary that aired April 26. Stream it today!
Your gut microbes may influence how you handle stress
A study published this month in Nature Mental Health, led by Arpana Church, PhD, and Tien S. Dong, finds distinct biological signatures in the microbiomes of people who are highly resilient in the face of stressful events.
UCLA Health is the only institution awarded two NIH SCORE grants; both focus on the understudied area of sex differences
Science is still ignoring women's health, but UCLA Health researchers are fixing that.
Elaine Y. Hsiao, PhD, named among world’s most influential researchers
Dr. Hsiao, director of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center, was one of 40 UCLA faculty members named among the world’s most influential researchers in the sciences and social sciences. The Highly Cited Researchers list, compiled annually by analytics firm Clarivate, identifies scholars whose work has most often been cited in papers published by other researchers in their fields over the past decade. Those named to the 2023 list have authored studies that rank in the top 1% worldwide in scholarly citations.