Video and artwork by Leah Bury
The Devlin lab at Harvard Medical School uses strategies from chemical biology to study the human microbiome. Our goal is to control the chemistry of human-associated bacteria in order to understand how the microbiome affects human health and disease. The lab leverages expertise from different fields, including synthetic organic chemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, analytical chemistry, and bioinformatics. Learn about our research.
The Devlin lab would be a good fit for students and post-docs with either (1) an organic or analytical chemistry background interested in using chemistry to study biological problems or (2) a microbiology, biochemistry, or cell biology background interested in studying the human microbiome. If you are interested, get in touch.
Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion
In the Devlin lab, we strive to create an environment that values diversity, promotes an inclusive culture, and establishes a sense of belonging for each member of our group, both in lab and as part of the broader Harvard community. Collaboration, open communication, and trust are the cornerstones of our group. We welcome and support anyone regardless of race, disability, gender identification, sexual orientation, age, financial background, or religion.
Recent Updates:
- August 2022: Our paper “Inhibition of microbial deconjugation of micellar bile acids protects against intestinal permeability and liver injury” with Snehal Chaudhari, Ari Adhikari, and other co-authors appeared in Science Advances. Check out the HMS Instagram post for a quick summary!
- August 2022: Our paper “A biosynthetic pathway for the selective sulfonation of steroidal metabolites by human gut bacteria” with Lina Yao, Gabriel D’Agostino, Ari Adhikari, Wei Li, and other co-authors appeared in Nature Microbiology.
- June 2022: We are excited to welcome Liz Jones to the lab!
- January 2022: We are excited to welcome Fei Ye to the lab!
- October 2021: Our review paper “Chains of evidence from correlations to causal molecules in microbiome-linked diseases” with Snehal Chaudhari and Megan McCurry appeared in Nature Chemical Biology, and it was featured on the cover!
- September 2021: We are excited to welcome Melissa Tran to the lab!
- July 2021: We said goodbye to Lina, who is starting a new position at Genentech.
- June 2021: We are excited to welcome Jasmine Walsh to the lab!
- April 2021: We said goodbye to Ari, who is starting a new position at Senda Biosciences!
- February 2021: Sloan has received an Alfred P. Sloan research fellowship in chemistry – congrats to the whole lab on this accomplishment!
- March 2020: We are excited to welcome Gabriel D’Agostino to the lab!
Tweets from @DevlinLab
Save the date! Sloan Devlin (@DevlinLab) at @harvardmed is #ASBMBDeuel’s Journal of Clinical Investigation (@jclinicalinvest) Lecturer. Register for the conference to attend her talk, “Bacterial modification of bile acids alters host physiology,” on 3/ 8: https://www.asbmb.org/meetings-events/deuel.
Check out our fearless leader on the @MicrobiGals podcast this week!!!!
🚨New Episode!🚨
Join us with Dr. Devlin of Harvard Medical School ( @DevlinLab) as we talk about the gut microbiome research in her lab.
https://hi.switchy.io/AKRQ
🚨New Episode!🚨
Join us with Dr. Devlin of Harvard Medical School ( @DevlinLab) as we talk about the gut microbiome research in her lab.
https://hi.switchy.io/AKRQ
Excited to be part of this ACS Chem Biol virtual event next Tuesday highlighting young #chembio investigators — registration is free! http://go.acs.org/28s @FFriscourt @IfthihaMohideen @DevlinLab @HuangMia @WangXiaoLab @EllenSletten @Linlab_ZJU & Samira Musah & Kabirul Islam https://twitter.com/ACSBioMed/status/1568252906834624517
Join us for the ACS Chemical Biology Young Investigators Webinar on Tuesday Sept 13th! The event will feature 10 exciting speakers and takes place in two live sessions at 10 am EST and 8 pm EST. You can register and find more information here: https://go.acs.org/28s
Gut bacterial modifications characterized so far involve hydrolytic & reductive pathways. @DevlinLab & colleagues have discovered a mechanism by which gut bacteria sulfonate steroidal metabolites that can modulate immune cell trafficking @NatureMicrobiol https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-022-01176-y
We’re excited to share our latest paper in @ScienceAdvances led by Snehal in our lab and Darrik Li in Raymond Chung’s lab @MGHLiverCenter! Check it out!
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abo2794
Today’s #shoutout to #womenInSTEM goes to Lina Yao @DevlinLab for her @NatureMicrobiol paper on a biosynthetic pathway for selective sulfonation of steroidal metabolites by human #gut #bacteria.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-022-01176-y
Two labs (@lizljohnson @DevlinLab) independently stumbling upon the same microbiome mediated cholesterol transformation at the same time. Congrats both labs! https://twitter.com/NatureMicrobiol/status/1560307327512764416
OUT NOW👉Characterization of interactions of dietary cholesterol with the murine and human gut microbiome
By Elizabeth Johnson, Henry Le, Min-Ting Lee & colleagues @henrychembio @MinTingLee2 –
@lizljohnson @CornellCALS
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-022-01195-9
OUT NOW👉Characterization of interactions of dietary cholesterol with the murine and human gut microbiome
By Elizabeth Johnson, Henry Le, Min-Ting Lee & colleagues @henrychembio @MinTingLee2 –
@lizljohnson @CornellCALS
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-022-01195-9
Check out our latest paper in @NatureMicrobiol! Congrats to @LinaYYao and Gabriel and our collaborators in the Huh lab and @hutlab!
OUT NOW👉 A biosynthetic pathway for the selective sulfonation of steroidal metabolites by human gut bacteria
By Sloan Devlin, Lina Yao and colleagues @DevlinLab
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-022-01176-y
In our final installment of Science on Tap 2022, @microbe_megan will be sharing her research on steroid metabolism in gut microbiota. Join us this Thursday at 4pm, Higgins 310!
We have lab members at #bostonbacterial2022 today! Megan @microbe_megan is presenting a poster today in session 3 and Wei @miniboe is presenting a poster tomorrow in session 4. We’re excited to be here!
Two of our graduate students, Megan @microbe_megan and Wei @miniboe are presenting posters at #mbiome22!
We out here #mbiome22 @miniboe
Check out this cool commentary that Sloan wrote for @cellhostmicrobe!
Lessons learned by an organic chemist entering the microbiome field
@DevlinLab
https://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/fulltext/S1931-3128(22)00134-2
Lessons learned by an organic chemist entering the microbiome field
@DevlinLab
https://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/fulltext/S1931-3128(22)00134-2
ICYMI: Great study in @Nature from @DevlinLab and Jun Huh’s lab at @harvardmed identifying gut bacteria and enzymes that produce two anti-inflammatory bile acid metabolites, 3-oxoLCA and isoLCA. (1/3)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04480-z
Bile acids have immunomodulatory properties. @DevlinLab & colleagues have found new clues into how human gut bacteria produce ΤΗ17-modulating bile acid metabolites with potential relevance for inflammatory disorders http://ow.ly/5EuH30seZ2F
Now featured in HMS News & Research!
A cluster of new studies reveal how gut microbes work to tame intestinal inflammation https://hms.harvard.edu/news/countering-gut-inflammation
So excited to share our latest paper in @Nature in collaboration with Jun Huh’s lab and with contributions from many others including @hutlab. Check it out and let us know what you think!
Nature research paper: Human gut bacteria produce ΤΗ17-modulating bile acid metabolites https://go.nature.com/3igKAWE
It’s interesting to learn more about the underling mechanisms of liver damage prevention. @DevlinLab shows recent data on the role of unconjugated bile acids in inducing leaky gut while conjugated bile acids protect the gut barrier #GMFH2022