Microbial Metabolites and Human Health Take Center Stage at ISB’s 2025 Virtual Microbiome Symposium
Six leading experts from across the field presented new insights to more than 1,000 registrants worldwide, with over 400 participants joining live.
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.
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Our science is transforming health.
Where discovery meets action – ISB is driving innovation from the heart of South Lake Union, uncovering new solutions to the world’s most pressing health problems.
ISB’s headquarters in South Lake Union, Seattle.
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Science Boldly.
ISB brings together scientists, engineers, and staff from a wide range of fields, including molecular biology, genetics, software engineering, and microbial ecology, to advance human health.
Scientists working in the mass spectrometry and wet labs at ISB.
Dr. Mary Brunkow receiving her Nobel Prize from His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden on Wednesday, Dec 10, 2025. © 2025 Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Clément Morin.
Nobel Prize
Dr. Mary Brunkow Wins 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
ISB’s Dr. Mary Brunkow has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for transformative discoveries in immune tolerance, alongside Drs. Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi. Join us in celebrating this milestone for science and human health.
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.
ISB’s Dr. Mary Brunkow Wins 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The prize recognizes foundational discoveries about regulatory T cells and the FOXP3 gene that redefined immune tolerance and opened avenues to treat autoimmune disease, enable transplantation, and advance immuno-oncology. ISB celebrates Dr. Brunkow’s leadership and collaborative science.
2025-26 School Year ISB Education Highlights
ISB’s education initiatives continue to grow, from a vibrant Ignite STEM celebration to expanded curriculum use, new modules, active teacher communities, and 10 student researchers in ISB labs. This roundup highlights milestones that showcase the reach and impact of ISB’s education mission across Washington.
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 all women 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.