Home Department: Computer Science
Supported by: Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Mentor: Ami Bhatt, Medicine (Hematology) and Genetics

Joyce is investigating the role of the human gut microbiome, the collective genomes of all the microorganisms in the intestine, in immunocompromised patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation (BMT), a treatment that aims to cure certain blood-related cancers. Specifically, Joyce plans to use a combination of wet lab techniques, next-generation DNA sequencing, and genetic analyses of genomic data to examine the link between changes in the microbiome and graft-versus-host disease, a common and debilitating complication of BMT in which the donor stem cells attack the recipient.

Poster presented at the Stanford Bio-X Interdisciplinary Initiatives Symposium on August 24, 2016:

Identifying Microbiome Signatures of Steroid-Refractory Graft-vs-Host Disease in HSCT Patients

Joyce Kang¹, Tessa Andermann², Jessica Ribado¹, Katia Tkachenko^1,3, Eli Moss¹, Ami Bhatt^1,3
[Departments of Genetics¹ and Medicine (Divisions of Infectious Diseases² and Hematology³), Stanford University]