Hannah D. Holscher

Biography

Dr. Hannah Holscher received her B.S. in Food Science and Human Nutrition and her Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Illinois. She is also a Registered Dietitian, having completed clinical training at Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, Illinois. Dr. Holscher joined the University of Illinois faculty as an Assistant Professor in June 2015. As Director of the Nutrition and the Human Microbiome Laboratory, her research team aims to enhance human health through dietary modulation of the gastrointestinal microbiome. In addition to serving as a research mentor for undergraduate and graduate students, she has taught both basic and advanced nutrition classes and has been included on the "List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students" five times for two different courses at the University of Illinois. Dr. Holscher has published in top nutrition journals including the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the Journal of Nutrition. She has also served in leadership roles at both the local and national level, including the FSHN Ambassadors and the American Society for Nutrition, respectively.

Research Interest

Research in my laboratory, the Nutrition and Human Microbiome Laboratory, integrates the areas of nutrition, gastrointestinal physiology, and the microbiome. Our research focuses on the clinical application of nutritional sciences with an overarching goal of improving human health through dietary modulation of the gastrointestinal microbiome. The advances in sequencing technologies and bioinformatics have revolutionized our view of the microbiome and expanded our understanding of its role in host physiology and subsequent health and disease. However, the capability of diet to modulate health via changes in the microbiome remains under-investigated. My research laboratory aims to advance foundational knowledge in the field of nutrition and the human microbiome by characterizing the impact of diet and ingestive behaviors (e.g. eating frequency and timing) on the human gastrointestinal microbiome using machine learning and big data approaches. Other research interests include delineating the interrelationship of diet and the gastrointestinal microbiome on metabolic health and studying the physiological functions of fibers, prebiotics, and probiotics on the gut-microbiota-brain axis. The long-range goal of my research is to develop targeted dietary interventions for disease prevention and treatment by identifying key foods and/or nutrients that can be utilized for manipulation of the human gastrointestinal microbiome for health benefit.