Excited to announce I have been selected as a HHMI Gilliam Fellow this year! This fellowship is given to exceptional doctoral students who have the potential to be leaders in their fields and the desire to advance diversity and inclusion in the sciences. In addition to three years of funding, I will be part of a community of diverse scientists who share my passions for research and outreach! Such an honor and grateful for all my mentors, friends and family supporting me along the way.

You can read more about the fellowship here: https://www.hhmi.org/news/hhmi-awards-39-gilliam-fellowships-support-diversity-science

boston bluefin, New york steel head, maine amberjack

experimenting during a late summer night

inspiration and exploration on my vacation back home in sweden and norway this summer

chantarelle, cress, horseradish

pea gazpachio w/ licorice, lemon, thai basil

local stockholm salmon w summer vegetables, cloudberry habanero reduction

deconstructed ‘marangsviss’: parsnip cream, pistacchio gelato, berry & black pepper pavlova

fishing and cooking in Stavanger, Norway

ceviche on catch of the day

cabbage, grilled with local chanterelles and salt baked leek

crab bisque

haddock with garlic scape, mojo rojo, yam

new bedford scallop ceviche with aguachile

cherry pistachio tart with miso butterscotch

Excited to have my first publication in graduate school! Published recently in Science Magazine, this is a review article I wrote with my adviser, Emily Balskus, and a senior graduate student in the lab. The article discusses the incredibly exciting topic of how gut microbes degrade the molecules we ingest (food, drugs, pollutants) and thus impact our overall health. This article will give you a sense of the topics I work on in graduate school and also will lay out the many opportunities and challenges that we face as a field. Overall, the article is a nice representation of my academic work at the interface between chemistry, microbiology, and nutrition.

Find the full article here: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6344/eaag2770.full

Here is more information about my thesis laboratory: https://scholar.harvard.edu/balskus/home

Here is the nice overview written by the editors at Science:

One person’s meat is another’s poison

The human gut is packed with actively metabolizing microorganisms. These have a transformative effect on what we ingest—whether food, drugs, or pollutants. Koppel et al. review the distinguishing features of microbial xenobiotic metabolism, its interaction with somatic metabolism, and interindividual variation. Depending on the functional composition of microorganisms in the gut, the subsequent products may have nutritionally beneficial effects, modify pharmaceuticals, or be toxic. All of these consequences of our companion microbes can have important impacts on human health and well-being.

Image from Science Magazine

mussel sofrito – purple yam

seared hake loin – corn miso broth – licorice root

new bedford scallop ceviche – tomatillo aguachile – blackened cumin

We just wrapped up another fantastic set of Young Chefs Program: From Cooking to Science workshops! We spent the last two days with the teachers and students part of the Harvard Medical School Native American High School Summer Science Program (https://www.hms.harvard.edu/dms/diversity/nahssp.html).   This program brings high school students and teachers from the Hopi and Fort Peck Reservations to Harvard University for three weeks of college-level science education. The focus is to communicate science concepts as it relate to their everyday lives and to empower students to become change-makers in their own communities. Naturally, two years ago we added a cooking-science component to engage students with the chemistry, biology, and physics of the kitchen. 

skate wing – saffron marsala reduction – grilled ramp – fiddlehead

softshell crab dashi – roasted brussels sprouts – poashed egg – toasted sesame

grilled rhubarb – black pepper miso caramel – whipped cream