Phages in the human body
The Pinto Lab investigates the human microbiome from a bacteriophage perspective. Our mission is to study phages as central regulators of microbiome structure, function, and dynamics within the complex triangular relationship between humans, bacteria, and microbial communities.
We conduct both basic and translational research to uncover how phages shape bacterial populations and influence human health. To decode this complexity, we combine experimental wet-lab biology with cutting-edge sequencing technologies, Artificial Intelligence, and Large Language Models to resolve highly complex metagenomic populations and track phage activity.
By bridging fundamental biological principles with disease-focused applications, our ultimate goal is to establish phages as key drivers of microbiome biology and leverage them as powerful new diagnostic and therapeutic tools.
Our Research
Computational Viromics
Integrating advanced genomic, computational and ML methods to study the composition, dynamics, and disease associations of the human virome at an unprecedented scale
Triggers of Phage Activation
Developing methods to study prophage induction and external stressors such as diet and drugs that activate them
Translational Phage Biology
Utilizing advanced genomics functional assays to map direct phage-human crosstalk, with the ultimate goal of harnessing bacteriophages as targeted diagnostic and therapeutic agents.
Our Research
Our Research
From DNA fragments to full viral genomes: Yishay explains our research on the bacteriophages that inhabit the human microbiome. English captions available