Rate My Professor Karen Guillemin

Karen Guillemin is the Philip H. Knight Chair and Professor of Biology in the Department of Biology and a full member of the Institute of Molecular Biology at the University of Oregon. She earned an A.B. in biology from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges and a Ph.D. from Stanford University Department of Biochemistry, where she studied fruit fly lung development under Mark Krasnow. She completed postdoctoral training at Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanley Falkow's laboratory, focusing on bacterial pathogenesis and the study of beneficial microbes. Guillemin joined the University of Oregon Institute of Molecular Biology as a junior professor in 2001. She is the founding director of the META Center for Host-Microbe Systems Biology, an NIH-funded Center of Excellence in Systems Biology, and leader of Research Area II. Her laboratory was the first from the Institute of Molecular Biology to utilize Lens on the Market for commercializing zebrafish screening services for microbes and microbial products.

Guillemin pioneered the use of zebrafish, including gnotobiotic and germ-free models, to dissect host-microbe interactions. Her research elucidates how animals coexist with microbial communities, the influence of the gut microbiome on intestinal development, metabolism, immunity, and behavior, bacterial strategies for host colonization including chemotaxis and adhesion, and the assembly of host-associated microbial communities. Key discoveries include a novel bacterial protein BefA that induces proliferation of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells, patented for potential Type 1 diabetes therapeutics; bacterial proteins modulating inflammation relevant to Crohn's disease; and a Helicobacter pylori protein that directs bacteria to inflamed gastric tissue linked to ulcers and cancer. She has published over 85 scientific papers, including a landmark 2006 study demonstrating stunted development in germ-free zebrafish intestines and contributions such as 'Contribution of neutral processes to the assembly of gut microbial communities in the zebrafish intestine' (2015). Guillemin's work has profoundly impacted the field by establishing zebrafish as a premier model for microbiome research. Honors include election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2020), AAAS Fellow (2020), American Academy of Microbiology (2016), Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in Biomedical Sciences (2001), and Medical Research Foundation of Oregon Discovery Award.