Scientists Decode Diet From Stool DNA – No Questions Asked
ISB’s Gibbons Lab developed a breakthrough method that analyzes food-derived DNA in fecal metagenomes, allowing for data-driven diet tracking without the need for burdensome questionnaires.
Research Areas
Isn’t Science Beautiful?
The Institute for Systems Biology, where science solves problems, saves lives, and benefits human life on a global scale. If that’s not beautiful, we don’t know what is.
A microbial community-scale metabolic model of an individual’s gut generated by MICOM data and the data visualization tool Gephi. Image credit: Gibbons Lab/ISB.
ISB Today
Our science is transforming health.
ISB is uncovering new solutions to the world’s most pressing health problems.
ISB Building at dusk in South Lake Union, Seattle. Photo credit: Trevor Dykstra.
Career Opportunities
Great minds don’t think alike.
ISB employs over 170 staff with expertise across a wide range of disciplines. Our teams span multiple scientific fields, with molecular biologists, geneticists, software engineers, computational biologists, and even microbial ecologists working together.
Members of the Kuchina Lab working at ISB in Seattle. Photo credit: Scott Eklund/Red Box Pictures.
Featured Research Topics
Cancer won’t cure itself.
Cancer is complex and requires a sophisticated systems approach to understand and treat it. ISB researchers are pursuing several complex and cross-disciplinary means to better create more personalized therapeutics and simulate which treatments will be most effective.
You are not entirely human.
Each of us has a microbiome — trillions of microorganisms that reside in and on our bodies. ISB researchers study the microbiome’s role in human health and translate this knowledge into approaches designed to promote better health for every individual.
Rewriting the rules of resistance.
Our infectious disease research addresses a wide range of global health initiatives. We are exploring new approaches that focus on cutting-edge treatments and preventive measures to fight infectious diseases.
Latest News
Read the latest news of our transformational research, devoted scientists and educators, recent and upcoming events, and much more.
Carole Ellison’s Bold Bet on Science and the Researchers of Tomorrow
Carole Ellison has supported ISB’s research and STEM programs for over a decade. She established the K. Carole Ellison Fellowship in Bioinformatics, funding groundbreaking research that has enabled young scientists to make critical discoveries.
New Research Uncovers Hidden Rules of Immune Response
Scientists at the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) reveal how T cells “decide” their fate in fighting infections like COVID-19, paving the way for improved treatments for infections, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.
A purple ribbon, the color for gynecologic cancers, composed with diverse faces illustrated by Stacey Knipe.
Giving Priority Area
Join us in our journey to bring effective treatments to all women with HPV+ cancers.
The Women’s Health Consortium, led by ISB President Dr. Jim Heath, is taking a collaborative approach to engineered T cell immunotherapy to benefit women of all ethnicities with advanced HPV+ cancers. Your support will help us bring innovative therapies to patients in need.
Featured Researchers
Who We Are
Dr. Jim Heath
President and Professor Jim Heath is dedicated to advancing precision medicine from benchtop to bedside, particularly in oncology. His research addresses fundamental scientific bottlenecks that can unlock solutions to broader challenges.
Who We Are
Dr. Sean Gibbons
Associate Professor Sean Gibbons develops experimental and computational approaches to dissect and engineer the functional outputs of the human gut microbiome to advance personalized medicine.
Who We Are
Dr. Anna Kuchina
Assistant Professor Anna Kuchina studies bacteria at the single-cell level, using advanced technologies to understand how bacteria behave in complex settings such as biofilms living in the human body.
Ways to Give
Help us realize a new vision of health.
The Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) is a nonprofit scientific research organization located in Seattle. We believe that science has the power to transform health. You have an opportunity to play an essential role in the future of human health. When you get involved, you enable our researchers to tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time. Together we can build a better, brighter, healthier future.