Jonathan Swann is a Professor of Biomolecular Medicine within the School of Human Development and Health in the Faculty of Medicine. He is responsible for leading a metabolomics-based research programme to understand the influence of gene-environment interactions on the mammalian metabolic system and their implications for health and disease. His primary research interests fall under two intersecting research themes:
(1) Role of the gut microbiota (the collection of microbes residing in the gastrointestinal tract) in the mammalian supra-organism and their influence on host health and disease. This includes the biomolecular communication between these systems, the microbial contribution to host endogenous and xenobiotic metabolism, the gut-brain axis and its role in neurological disorders, the carcinogenic potential of the microbiome, and the environmental and host factors that shape the acquisition and composition of the gut microbiome.
(2) Impact of early-life events and exposures on human development particularly microbial-host interplay, metabolism, and phenotypic outcomes. A key research area is the application of metabolic phenotyping to the field of global health. Specifically, using a metabolomic approach to characterise the biochemical consequences of undernutrition and infection in children from developing countries to better understand the contributors to adverse later life outcomes. This includes impaired growth, cognitive, and metabolic functions.
Prof Swann’s research is supported by the BBSRC, MRC, Wellcome Trust, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Danone, and Optibiotix. He is a visiting professor in the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction at Imperial College London and a visiting academic in the Department of Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden. He is on the editorial board for the journals Microbiome, and Frontiers in Endocrinology, and sits on numerous expert panels relating to the gut microbiota including the British Society of Gastroenterology – Gut Microbiota for Health expert panel.
