My laboratory studies how the chemical diversity of the diet is transformed by gut microorganisms into metabolites that influence mammalian physiology. A central focus is dietary phytochemicals—small molecules abundant in plants whose biological activities often depend on microbial conversion before absorption. Our group combines untargeted and targeted mass spectrometry, stable-isotope tracing, metabolite fractionation and structural elucidation, microbial culture, cellular reporter systems, and mouse models to identify these metabolites and determine how they act in vivo.

Particular emphasis is placed on the gut–liver axis and on nuclear receptors that sense dietary and microbial molecules and regulate xenobiotic metabolism, lipid and bile acid homeostasis, inflammation, and metabolic adaptation. The laboratory also investigates how diet- and microbiome-derived metabolites alter drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, and therapeutic response, particularly in cancer and metabolic liver disease. By integrating experimental metabolomics with computational and AI-guided approaches, the research aims to uncover previously uncharacterized metabolites, map their dietary and microbial origins and host targets, and translate these discoveries into biomarkers and strategies for precision nutrition and therapy.