Suzanne Ishaq

Education

  • University of Vermont, 2015, PhD in Animal, Nutrition, and Food Sciences
  • University of Vermont, 2007, B.S. in Animal Science

Brief Biography

The majority of my work focuses on host-associated microbiomes and understanding lifestyle circumstances which select for communities. I want to know how we can recover a stable microbial community in humans and animals which have already gotten to the point of chronic microbial community dysfunction and disease. I have three overarching research goals: 1) to better characterize microbiomes using cutting-edge technology, 2) to use this characterization to determine the relation of community structure to system functionality and homeostasis in simplified models, and 3) to develop prevention and intervention therapies which can return a perturbed microbiome back into balance in vivo.

Selected Publications

  • Zeng, H., Safratowich, B. D., Liu, Z., Bukowski, M. R., & Ishaq, S. L. (2021). Adequacy of calcium and vitamin D reduces inflammation, β-catenin signaling, and dysbiotic Parasutterela bacteria in the colon of C57BL/6 mice fed a western-style diet. The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, 92, 108613.
  • Ishaq, S.L., Seipel, T., Yeoman, C.J., Menalled, F.D. 2020. Soil bacterial communities of wheat vary across the growing season and among dryland farming systems. Geoderma 358(15):113989.
  • Ishaq, S.L., Lachman, M.M., Wenner, B.A., Baeza, A., Butler, M., Gates, E., Olivo, S., Buono Geddes, J., Hatfield, P., Yeoman, C.J. 2019. Pelleted-hay alfalfa feed increases sheep wether weight gain and rumen bacterial richness over loose-hay alfalfa feed. PLoS ONE 14(6): e0215797.
  • Yeoman, C.J., Ishaq, S.L., Bichi , E., Olivo, S., Lowe, J., Aldridge, B.M. 2018. Biogeographical Differences in the Influence of Maternal Microbial Sources on the Early Successional Development of the Bovine Neonatal Gastrointestinal tract. Scientific Reports 8: 3197.
  • Garcia-Mazcorro, J.F., Ishaq, S.L., Rodriguez-Herrera, M.V., Garcia- Hernandez, C.A., Kawas, J.R., Nagaraja, T.G. 2019. Review: Are there indigenous Saccharomyces in the digestive tract of livestock animal species? Implications for health, nutrition and productivity traits. Animal: 1-9.
  • Ishaq, S.L., Rapp, M., Byerly, R., McClellan, L.S., O’Boyle, M.R., Nykanen, A., Fuller, P.J., Aas, C., Stone, J.M., Killpatrick, S., Uptegrove, M.M., Vischer, A., Wolf, H., Smallman, F., Eymann, H., Narode, S., Stapleton, E., Cioffi, C.C., Tavalire, H.. 2019. Framing the discussion of microorganisms as a facet of social equity in human health. PLoS Biology 17(11): e3000536. Microbiomes Across Systems special issue.

CV

Link to Dr. Ishaq’s CV