Education

• B.S., Biochemistry, Western Kentucky University
• Ph.D., Immunobiology, Iowa State University
• Post Doc, Immunology, Microbiology and Parasitology, Iowa State University

Research

Humans harbor a complex community of microbes in our gastrointestinal tract, known collectively as the gut microbiota. These organisms live a mutualistic lifestyle with their host and provide it with numerous benefits—increasing food digestibility, developing immune responses, and providing colonization resistance against pathogens. Despite these and other valuable contributions to human health, abnormalities in the gut microbiota are now increasingly associated with a multitude of complex human diseases, including inflammatory bowel diseases, metabolic syndrome, and cancer. Importantly, we and others have learned that diet is a major factor influencing microbiome composition and function, thereby making it an exciting target for dietary interventions aimed at improving human health. The long-term vision for our research program is to transform human health through discovery and application of the principles and mechanisms underlying host-diet-microbiota interactions.

In pursuit of that vision, our laboratory’s mission is to improve health by identifying the causative relationships among gut microbes, diet, and disease processes through creating and maintaining synergistic and multidisciplinary research collaborations, combining molecular and bioinformatic tools with unique, preclinical gnotobiotic mouse models, and mentoring students and postdocs in a safe and supportive environment that fosters their success as independent scientists.

The following research initiatives represent our lab’s ongoing efforts to advance the study of host-diet-microbiota interactions:

• Establish causality for the gut microbiota and its metabolites in health and disease
• Identify diet-microbiota interactions that improve disease outcomes
• Design microbiome-based strategies for treating disease
• Advance the use of gnotobiotic mouse models for microbiome research

PUBLICATIONS

Find a complete list of Dr. Ramer-Tait’s publications in PubMed or GoogleScholar

1. Kittana H, Gomes-Neto JC, Heck K, Juritsch AF, Sughroue J, Xian Y, Mantz S, Segura Muñoz RR, Cody LA, Schmaltz RJ, Anderson CL, Moxley RA, Hostetter JM, Fernando SC, Clarke J, Kachman SD, Cressler CE, Benson AK, Walter J, Ramer-Tait AE. Evidence for a causal role for Escherichia coli strains identified as adherent-invasive (AIEC) in intestinal inflammation. 2023. mSphere. Mar 8:e0047822.
2. Smith C, Van Haute MJ, Xian Y, Segura Munoz RR, Liu S, Schmaltz RJ, Ramer-Tait AE*, Rose DJ*. Carbohydrate utilization by the gut microbiome determines host health responsiveness to whole grain type and processing methods. 2022. Gut Microbes. 14(1):2126275. *represents equal contribution.
3. Segura Munoz RR, Mantz S, Martínez I, Li F, Schmaltz RJ, Pudlo NA, Urs K, Martens EC, Walter J*, Ramer-Tait AE*. Experimental evaluation of ecological principles to understand and modulate the outcome of bacterial strain competition in gut microbiomes. 2022. ISME J. 16(6):1594. *represents equal contribution.
4. Segura Munoz RR, Quach T, Gomes-Neto JC, Xian Y, Pena PA, Weier S, Pellizzon MA, Kittana H, Cody LA, Geis AL, Heck K, Schmaltz RJ, Bindels LB, Cahoon EB, Benson AK, Clemente TE, Ramer-Tait AE. Stearidonic-enriched soybean oil modulates obesity, glucose metabolism, and fatty acid profiles independently of Akkermansia muciniphila. 2020. Mol Nutr Food Res. 64(17):e2000162.
5. Gomes-Neto JC, Kittana H, Mantz S, Segura Munoz RR, Schmaltz RJ, Bindels LB, Clarke J, Hostetter JM, Benson AK, Walter J, Ramer-Tait AE. A gut pathobiont synergizes with the microbiota to instigate inflammatory disease marked by immunoreactivity against other symbionts but not itself. 2017. Sci Rep. 7:17707.
6. Bindels LB, Segura Munoz RR, Gomes Neto JC, Mutemberezi V, Martínez I, Salazar N, Cody EA, Quintero-Villegas MI, Kittana H, de los Reyes-Gavilán CG, Schmaltz RJ, Muccioli GG, Walter J, Ramer-Tait AE. Resistant starch can improve insulin sensitivity independently of the gut microbiota. 2017. Microbiome. 5:12.