Margolis Lab

The various clinical treatments at St. Jude- such as chemotherapy, radiation, antibiotics, diet changes, etc.- can disturb patients’ microbial communities. Our interest is understanding how these disturbances select for antibiotic resistance or alter the microbial-host interactions. A key focus is on whether changes in microbial communities can predict infection, graft versus host disease and other outcomes in cancer and sickle cell anemia patients.

One consequence of the disruption of cancer and antibiotic treatments on St Jude  patients’ microbial communities, is it weakens their defense against multidrug resistant bacteria. We aim to understand how multidrug resistant bacteria overcome this barrier and how commensal bacteria can outcompete or inhibit them.

Our research begins with analyzing human big data to guide in vivo and in vitro experiments, focusing on host-bacteria interactions in normal and immunocompromised environments. We use Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus faecium as a model for multidrug resistant organism colonization due to its link to poor outcomes. Our work spans multiple disciplines- including ecology, bioinformatics, microbiology, immunology- and is built on extensive collaboration with clinicians and statisticians at St. Jude.