Professor Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello Is the Recipient of the 2021 SEBS Research Excellence Award

Dr. Dominguez-Bello is an established leader in the field of microbiology, in particular the study of symbioses between microorganisms and their hosts, their coevolution, and the role of animal-microbe interactions in health. Her internationally recognized work spans from elucidating functions of fermenting microbes in wild and domestic animals, to evolutionary origins of human microbionts, early assembly of the human microbiome, environmental microbial and metabolite changes with urbanization, restoration of the human microbiota after perturbations, and to global conservation/education efforts. Her work is highly relevant in providing a basis for understanding the evolution of the human gut microbiome, thus bridging the fields of microbiology and anthropology. She has made significant advances to our knowledge of the interactions between humans and their microbiomes and is an international leader in this research. She trains students and postdocs, teaches and enriches our School and University with her dynamic roles in the school leadership. Prof. Dominguez-Bello is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the Academy of Sciences of Latin America.