Stephanie Peterson, a PhD student in the laboratory of Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam was recently featured in “The Dare to Discover” campaign sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research.

The Dare to Discover campaign features undergraduate and graduate students who are making waves in a range of disciplines across campus, from music education to neuroscience, business analytics, public health, chemistry, French and Italian, law, engineering, sociology, physics and astronomy, and much more. Stephanie’s research broadly focuses on the effect of diet on the gut microbiome, the bacteria that live in our intestines, and how the interaction between diet and gut microbiota influences the immune system. Specifically, her research is investigating the effect of a diet rich in the sugar fructose on the composition of the gut microbiome and how this influences disease outcomes in multiple sclerosis.

View more information on Stephanie and her research.