Christopher L Dutton

What in the world just happened? Why were all the fish dead? Here’s a short thread as to how our latest paper, the last of my PhD at @yale_eeb, came to be by starting at the beginning.

Have you ever wondered why children starting nursery pick up so many germs? I certainly did, and with a crack team of parent-scientists/clinicians, we set out to answer that question. Is childcare a germ factory or an immune bootcamp? journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/cm…

We are excited to present our new study @Nature, led by @DrDrCox and performed in collaboration with the lab of @MaayanLevyPhD, in which we explore the impact of gut-brain axis aging on cognitive decline. nature.com/articles/s4158…

👀 ign.com/articles/the-p…

For context, this is what the river normally looks like...

Uh oh...I think we just lost our telemetry unit at the Mara River, Purungat Bridge on the border between Kenya and Tanzania. Water rose six meters in the last few days, and this was the last pic sent....a few hours ago. 😱 ufduttonlab.github.io/mara-river/

So cool to see the research team on the jumbotron out in front of @museumsofkenya! The Mara River Biodiversity Exhibit opens Thursday!!! Made possible by @JRSBiodiversity. CHECK IT OUT! @AmandaSubalusky @UF_CLAS @UF @maratriangle

Introducing Eubiota: A multi-agent AI framework for autonomous discovery in the human microbiome. 🧬🤖🧫 👇 Explore the platform: eubiota.ai Eubiota doesn’t just chat: it plans, uses tools, verifies evidence, and drives end-to-end discovery—from hypothesis to wet-lab validation. Eubiota achieved 87.7% accuracy on mechanistic reasoning (vs. GPT-5.1 77.3%). But we went further. We used Eubiota to drive 4 discoveries with experimental validation: ✅ Gene Discovery: Identified the uvr-ruv stress axis by screening 1,945 genes & 10K papers in hours (on 2 GPUs) 🧬⚡ ✅ Therapeutics: Designed a microbial therapy that reduced colitis inflammation 🦠💊 ✅ Antibiotics: Engineered a cocktail that kills pathogens but spares commensals 🎯🛡️ ✅ Metabolites: Discovered novel anti-inflammatory molecules from large human data 🥗🧪 📄 Paper: biorxiv.org/content/10.648… 💻 Code: github.com/lupantech/Eubi… Try the live app to start your own discovery: 🎮 App: app.eubiota.ai Huge thanks to fantastic co-lead @YifanGao15, our incredible PIs @james_y_zou @LabSonnenburg, stellar advisors Kerwyn Casey Huang, @YejinChoinka, and the excellent team! 👏 #Eubiota #Microbiome #Inflammation #AI4Sci #AgenticAI #Agent

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Applications are now open for our next class of Pivot Fellows! This unique opportunity allows researchers to pivot and apply their talents and expertise to a new field in #math or #science: simonsfoundation.org/2026/03/02/app…

Just over 1 hour left for #GatorNationGivingDay... Help us fund a summer of fieldwork for @UF students through WILDS: givingday.ufl.edu/campaigns/biol…

What was your most formative experience as an undergrad? For me, it was doing field ecology and discovering a career path I love. Help us give those experiences to other undergrads with #GatorNationGivingDay by making a donation to WILDS: givingday.ufl.edu/campaigns/biol…

Wow. Truly humbled by the support. Thank you all so much. 🙏

We did it! You helped our labs meet the Gator Nation Giving Day challenge and unlock extra support for our students. Thank you for being #AllForTheGators with us today. givingday.ufl.edu/campaigns/biol… @UF @UF_CLAS

Four hours left in Gator Nation Giving Day and our labs are 4 gifts away from unlocking a 2,000 dollar challenge for our lab. Students and their research on animals, microbes, and water thank you. Give here: givingday.ufl.edu/campaigns/biol… #AllForTheGators @UF @UF_CLAS

Large gifts are amazing, but today we’re also trying to maximize the number of Gators who raise their hands with any-size gift.​ Chip in for water & wildlife research: givingday.ufl.edu/campaigns/biol… #StandUpAndHoller @UF_CLAS @UF @UFexplore

It’s here: #GatorNationGivingDay 2026! 🐊 Help us support student-powered water and wildlife research in the WILDS labs of Dutton & Subalusky: givingday.ufl.edu/campaigns/biol… Every donor counts.

For @UF #GivingDay this yr, our labs are focusing on giving more students the chance to do real, messy, field-and-lab ecology and microbiome research on water and wildlife. If you’d like to support it, or just help us spread the word, givingday.ufl.edu/campaigns/biol… #StandUpandHoller

Large-scale metagenomic analysis reveals host genetics shapes microbiomes in wild freshwater fish gut and skin: Cell Reports cell.com/cell-reports/f…