Martin J. Blaser

Henry Rutgers Chair of the Human Microbiome; Professor of Medicine and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Director, Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine; all at Rutgers University. Leader in the biology and pathogenesis of several major gastrointestinal infections, including Campylobacter and Helicobacter pylori. He defined H. pylori's role in gastric inflammation and adenocarcinoma. He identified cagA and vacA, the most important virulence factors, showing that particular genotypes enhance disease risk, and that human family structure affects the risk of stomach cancer occurring decades later. His genetic studies formulated a model for Helicobacter-host interaction, in which coevolved bacteria and hosts cross-signal in a dynamic equilibrium. His mathematical concept is generalizable to other persisting microbes, affecting host energy homeostasis, immunity, and pathological processes. His molecular studies focused on genetic variation governing bacterial surface composition and DNA repair, and microbial effects on human metabolism. He defined the normal human esophageal, gastric, and skin microbiota, advancing understanding of the human microbiome. He has advanced the “disappearing microbiota” hypothesis to explain the current epidemics of esophageal diseases, asthma, diabetes, and obesity due to aberrant human development because of perturbed microbiota, and has conducted animal experiments and epidemiological studies that provide support for his theory. He has written "Missing Microbes", a book directed to the general public to explain these issues, and now translated into 20 languages.