Dr. Garrett investigates host-microbiota interactions in health and disease. Her research team studies the interplay between the gastrointestinal immune system and the gut microbiota in health, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC). The Garrett lab focuses on how the gut microbiota influence both innate and adaptive populations and the contribution of these cells to immune homeostasis and disease.

Dr. Garrett’s team has identified specific species, pathways, and metabolites made by the microbiota that influence health and disease states. The lab also studies microbes and immune cells that are not only instrumental in potentiating carcinogenesis but are integral to intestinal homeostasis. The multi-faceted research approach includes meta’omics, microbiology, cellular immunology, biochemistry, cell biology, and cancer biology. The lab uses mouse models, human specimens, and primary and transformed mammalian cells and bacterial cells in their experiments in order to move facilely between large human data sets and in vivo and in vitro model systems with a core mission of determining basic biologic mechanism and applying the findings to precision medicine.

The Garrett lab is highly collaborative and works with many laboratories at institutions in the greater Boston area, in Harvard-affiliated hospitals and institutes, and at national and international research centers.