As part of the Jill Roberts Institute for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research, the Iliev Lab studies the role that the mammalian gut microbiome plays in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In particular, our lab focuses on understanding the functional consequences of fungal microbiota (mycobiota) composition and metabolism to the host's immunity and to bacterial populations in the gut. The interaction between this commensal microbiota and the immune cells at the mucosal surfaces of the body is integral to the development and progression of inflammatory bowel disease. To better understand the role of mycobiota, Dr. Iliev and his colleagues have developed in vivo models, model fungal strains and bioinformatics pipelines that aid with tools to study the role of gut fungi in mucosal immunity during health and during conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease, allergy and immunosuppression, in which fungi can contribute to pathologies. We welcome collaboration with other labs and investigators that seek to better understand gut microbiota and mycobiota.