Caltech biologist Sarkis Mazmanian has been awarded a MacArthur "genius" grant for his work on the human immune system, the university announced late Monday. Mazmanian will receive $500,000 as a MacArthur Fellow.
His work reveals links between bacteria or microbes in the human digestive system and their ties to immunity from disease and diseases including autism and multiple sclerosis. While thousands of foreign microbes exist inside the human body, relatively few cause disease while many others are beneficial.
On his web page, Mazmanian said a common connection between many of the diseases on the rise among humans today is a lack of specific intestinal bacteria.
A native of Southern California, Mazmanian earned his Ph.D at UCLA and performed research at the University of Chicago and Harvard Medical School before joining the faculty at Caltech in 2006.
-- Bill Kisliuk, Times Community News
Twitter: @bkisliuk
