Rob Knight (born 1976 in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

) is a professor at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

and the co-founder of the

American Gut Project American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. He is also a co-founder of the

Earth Microbiome Project The 'Earth Microbiome Project'' (EMP) is an initiative founded by Janet Jansson, Jack Gilbert and Rob Knight in 2010 to collect natural samples and to analyze the microbial community around the globe. Microbes are highly abundant, diverse, and ...

, and his lab's research involves the development of laboratory and computational techniques to characterize the

microbiomes A microbiome () is the community of microorganisms that can usually be found living together in any given habitat. It was defined more precisely in 1988 by Whipps ''et al.'' as "a characteristic microbial community occupying a reasonably we ...

humans Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

, animals, and the environment. In 2015, he received the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science. Knight completed a BSc in biochemistry at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

and a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

in 2001, where his thesis was "The Origin and Evolution of the Genetic Code." Until 2014, he was a professor at the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado s ...

. He did an

IAmA IAMA may refer to: * Iama Island, Queensland, an island and a locality in the Torres Strait Island Region, Australia * Igreja Anglicana de Moçambique e Angola, a proposed new autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, currently in formation * ...

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and co-taught an online microbiome course on

Coursera Coursera Inc. () is a U.S.-based massive open online course provider founded in 2012 by Stanford University computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller. Coursera works with universities and other organizations to offer online cour ...

. He gave a

TED TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depart ...

Talk in 2014 on the role microbes play on our health. Later this idea was expanded into the book ''Follow Your Gut: The Enormous Impact of Tiny Microbes'', written with science journalist

Brendan Buhler Brendan may refer to: People * Saint Brendan the Navigator (c. 484 – c. 577) was an Irish monastic saint. * Saint Brendan of Birr (died 573), Abbot of Birr in Co. Offaly, contemporaneous with the above * Brendan (given name), a masculine given na ...

and published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pub ...

. Rob Knight has the prologue and a chapter dedicated to his spirit of exploration in a non-fiction, written for masses, science book ''I Contain Multitudes''. The author Ed Yong highlights his visit to San Diego zoo with Knight where he swabs different animals to study the microbes collected. He explains the intriguing nature of the microorganisms and the way the affect development of life. The book was published in 2016.

American Gut Project

The American Gut Project, which claims to be the world's largest crowdfunded and crowdsourced scientific research project, aims to characterize the human microbiome—the diverse communities of microorganisms that live in and on the human body. Participants make a monetary contribution and submit personal microbiome samples, and receive information about their microbiome.

References

External links

UC San Diego faculty: Rob Knight

Knight Lab at UC San Diego

Knight Lab at University of Colorado
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Rob 1976 births Living people New Zealand microbiologists University of California, San Diego faculty University of Colorado Boulder faculty Princeton University alumni