Dr. Zachos is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Surgery and Cell & Developmental Biology at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. The Zachos lab utilizes human intestinal organoids to investigate host stem cell and epithelial responses to enteric pathogen (bacterial and viral) infections. The Zachos lab has advanced these models by developing co-culture systems that incorporate primary human immune cells with organoids to interrogate mucosal immune responses to gut commensals and enteropathogens. In addition, the Zachos laboratory has demonstrated that human enteroids/colonoids functionally recapitulate normal intestinal physiology and pathophysiology of GI disorders including Inflammatory Bowel Disease, metabolic diseases (Obesity/Type II Diabetes), and pre-cancer. The long-term goal is to use these multicellular co-culture models to compare organoids from healthy subjects or diseases associated with inflammation to provide insights into disease etiology and progression ultimately leading to the development of novel treatment strategies and drug discovery.
Twitter: @ZachosLab
Email: n.zachos@vumc.org