Seth Bordenstein
The Bordenstein Lab website has full information on lab members, research, education, and outreach.
Biography
As a recognized thought leader and scientist who studies the centrality of microorganisms to the biosphere and human health, Dr. Bordenstein has peered into the world of microorganisms that dwell inside animals for the past 25 years. His philosophy to science is research the important keystones that we should already know about in textbooks or apply in the clinic, and his research specialties span the extraordinary utility of microbes to control mosquito-borne diseases, the secrets of microbiome diversity across the diversity of humans, and the major trends of host-associated microbiomes across the animal kingdom. These interests align with the distinguished One Health Microbiome Center that Dr. Bordenstein directs at The Pennsylvania State University. As one of the largest and most venerable organizations in the field, the Center is composed of over 500 members who develop and execute complex and often transformative projects related to the microbiome sciences across agricultural, environmental, and human health. Dr. Bordenstein is a Professor in the Departments of Biology and Entomology as well and the former and founding Director of the worldwide HHMI-initiated science education program Discover the Microbes Within! The Wolbachia Project that brings biodiversity, biotechnology, and bioinformatics directly into the classroom. He is the recipient of the 2014 Jeffrey Nordhaus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 2014 Chancellor’s Award for Research, 2018 Chancellor Faculty Fellow Award from Vanderbilt University, 2020 Genetics Society of America Award for Excellence in Education, 2020 Centennial Endowed Professorship, 2022 Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Endowed Chair in Microbiome Sciences, and a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher since 2023. There has never been a more important time to learn the story of Earth’s microbes and how they change both our perspective of nature and our identity of where we belong in it. Dr. Bordenstein is keen to continue to expand his research and education portfolio and develop new partnerships with academia, industry, private foundations, and donors.
Research Interests and Innovation
Microbiomes are the foundation of the biosphere and have existed on the planet for 4 billion years. There are orders of magnitude more microorganisms on Earth than there are stars in the universe. And there are more bacteria in your mouth than there are people on the planet. No visible form, either animal or plant, lacks contact and association with microbes. Most of the time they are very helpful..rarely do they make us sick. A new convergence of micro and macrobiology has driven a synthesis among new and scientists alike that unifies biology’s seen and unseen realms for a more enveloping representation of life. Consequently, major funding programs, meetings, workshops, and courses are underway across the globe with a principal message – that the multidisciplinary matrix of holobiont biology (the study of host and mirobial cells together) presents a more valid and comprehensive representation of biological organization, form, and function in science’s endless search for truth.
Major contributions from the lab include (i) advancement of the holobiont biology perspective for the study of life (Science 2024) (ii) discovery of the long-sought genes and mechanisms that germline bacteria (Wolbachia) use to hijack sexual reproduction; these genes include the cifA and cifB genes from prophage WO that cause cytoplasmic incompatibility (Nature 2017, PNAS 2018, Science 2024) and the wmk gene (PLOS Pathogens 2019 and elife 2021) just a few genes away that causes selective killing of males (iii) establishment of phylosymbiosis (coined in Nature 2013, PLOS Biology 2016, Proceedings of the Royal Society 2021) as a common pattern across diverse host systems in which closely related host species share more similar microbiomes than divergent host species (Nature 2013, PLOS Biology 2016) and (iv) patterns of human gut microbiome and virome variation across self-identity and social groups in the United States.