Welcome to the Thaiss lab!

We are a team of biologists, physicians, and computer scientists who jointly tackle the mysteries of human disease.
Thaiss Lab

Research Focus

Body-brain communication

We investigate the core principles of bidirectional communication between the body and the brain, with a particular focus on interactions between the immune, metabolic, and nervous systems in physiology and disease.

Environmental and lifestyle impacts on disease

We aim to decipher the mechanistic basis of how environmental and lifestyle factors, such as diet, exercise, sleep, stress, infections, xenobiotics, temperature, social interactions, and technology interact with the human body.

The biology of aging

We explore new elements of the biology of aging, and how they influence an individual's propensity for the development of multifactorial diseases, such as neurodegeneration, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and chronic inflammatory disease.

Publications

Serotonin reduction in post-acute sequelae of viral infection

Serotonin reduction in post-acute sequelae of viral infection

Andrea C. Wong, Ashwarya S. Devason, Iboro C. Umana, Timothy O. Cox, Lenka Dohnalová, Lev Litichevskiy, Jonathan Perla, Patrick Lundgren, Zienab Etwebi, Luke T. Izzo, Jihee Kim, Monika Tetlak, Hélène C. Descamps, Simone L. Park, Stephen Wisser, Aaron D. McKnight, Ryan D. Pardy, Junwon Kim, Niklas Blank, Shaan Patel, Katharina Thum, Sydney Mason, Jean-Christophe Beltra, Michaël F. Michieletto, Shin Foong Ngiow, Brittany M. Miller, Megan J. Liou, Bhoomi Madhu, Oxana Dmitrieva-Posocco, Alex S. Huber, Peter Hewins, Christopher Petucci, Candice P. Chu, Gwen Baraniecki-Zwil, Leila B. Giron, Amy E. Baxter, Allison R. Greenplate, Charlotte Kearns, Kathleen Montone, Leslie A. Litzky, Michael Feldman, Jorge Henao-Mejia, Boris Striepen, Holly Ramage, Kellie A. Jurado, Kathryn E. Wellen, Una O'Doherty, Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen, Alan L. Landay, Ali Keshavarzian, Timothy J. Henrich, Steven G. Deeks, Michael J. Peluso, Nuala J. Meyer, E. John Wherry, Benjamin A. Abramoff, Sara Cherry, Christoph A. Thaiss, Maayan Levy.

CellOctober 2023

The enteric nervous system relays psychological stress to intestinal inflammation

The enteric nervous system relays psychological stress to intestinal inflammation

Kai Markus Schneider, Niklas Blank, Yelina Alvarez, Katharina Thum, Patrick Lundgren, Lev Litichevskiy, Madeleine Sleeman, Klaas Bahnsen, Jihee Kim, Simon Kardo, Shaan Patel, Lenka Dohnalová, Giulia T. Uhr, Hélène C. Descamps, Susanna Kircher, Alana M. McSween, Ashkan Rezazadeh Ardabili, Kelsey M. Nemec, Monica T. Jimenez, Lila G. Glotfelty, Joshua D. Eisenberg, Emma E. Furth, Jorge Henao-Mejia, F. Chris Bennett, Marie J. Pierik, Mariëlle Romberg-Camps, Zlatan Mujagic, Marco Prinz, Carolin V. Schneider, E. John Wherry, Meenakshi Bewtra, Robert O. Heuckeroth, Maayan Levy, Christoph A. Thaiss.

CellJune 2023

A microbiome-dependent gut–brain pathway regulates motivation for exercise

A microbiome-dependent gut–brain pathway regulates motivation for exercise

Lenka Dohnalová, Patrick Lundgren, Jamie R. E. Carty, Nitsan Goldstein, Sebastian L. Wenski, Pakjira Nanudorn, Sirinthra Thiengmag, Kuei-Pin Huang, Lev Litichevskiy, Hélène C. Descamps, Karthikeyani Chellappa, Ana Glassman, Susanne Kessler, Jihee Kim, Timothy O. Cox, Oxana Dmitrieva-Posocco, Andrea C. Wong, Erik L. Allman, Soumita Ghosh, Nitika Sharma, Kasturi Sengupta, Belinda Cornes, Nitai Dean, Gary A. Churchill, Tejvir S. Khurana, Mark A. Sellmyer, Garret A. FitzGerald, Andrew D. Patterson, Joseph A. Baur, Amber L. Alhadeff, Eric J. N. Helfrich, Maayan Levy, J. Nicholas Betley, Christoph A. Thaiss.

NatureDecember 2022

All Publications

Team

Christoph Thaiss
Core Investigator

Christoph Thaiss

Christoph A. Thaiss is an Assistant Professor of Pathology at Stanford University. His lab studies how interactions between environment, body, and brain impact physiology and disease over the lifespan. Christoph received his undergraduate training from the University of Bonn, Yale University, ETH Zurich, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Following his Ph.D. studies at the Weizmann Institute of Science, he joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. Among the recognitions he has received for his work are an NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, an NIDDK Catalyst Award, a Pew Biomedical Scholars Award, the Science & SciLifeLab Grand Prize for a Young Scientist, the Agilent Early Career Professor Award, a McKnight Brain Research Foundation Innovator Award, and a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Award.

Current Members

Neta Dagan
Lab Manager

Neta Dagan

Clara Baader
Lab Admin

Clara Baader

Andrea Salvador
Postdoctoral Fellow

Andrea Salvador

Niklas Blank
Postdoctoral Fellow

Niklas Blank

Matthew Carter
Postdoctoral Fellow

Matthew Carter

Michelle Lee
Postdoctoral Fellow

Michelle Lee

Hyungyu Min
Postdoctoral Fellow

Hyungyu Min

Alana McSween
PhD Student

Alana McSween

Shuaitong Liu
PhD Student

Shuaitong Liu

Jared Xia
PhD Student

Jared Xia

Eric Hohmann
Visiting Student

Eric Hohmann

Clara Soekler
Visiting Student

Clara Soekler

Anna Bub
Visiting Student

Anna Bub

Shaan Patel
Undergraduate Researcher

Shaan Patel

Contact Us

We are looking for students and postdocs across different disciplines of biology, medicine, and computer science to support our basic and translational research. If you are interested in joining our journey, please contact us at christoph.thaiss@arcinstitute.org.

Address

Arc Institute
3181 Porter Dr
Palo Alto, CA 94304
info@arcinstitute.org
Arc Institute Location