Hello and Welcome!

Welcome to the Grembi Lab at Penn State University! We study the ecology of the human small intestine — a dynamic environment where microbes and host processes intersect to influence health, nutrition, and disease. Our work focuses on environmental enteropathy, a subclinical condition characterized by intestinal inflammation and increased permeability that is thought to contribute to childhood undernutrition and stunting in low- and middle-income countries.

We use an interdisciplinary approach, combining microbiology, biochemistry, computational biology, and epidemiology to understand how microbial communities in the small intestine develop, interact with the host, and respond to environmental conditions.

Our team collaborates closely with immunologists, biochemists, epidemiologists, statisticians, clinicians, and global health researchers to identify the microbial and molecular mechanisms underlying diarrheal disease and impaired growth in children.

Our lab is affiliated with the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, and the One Health Microbiome Center at Penn State.