Nicolas Buchon

My laboratory focuses on the genetic and cellular mechanisms that maintain tissue homeostasis in response to pathogens and the microbiota. I established my lab at Cornell University in 2012 and work in my lab integrates multiple aspects of host-microbe interactions, including the regulation of immune pathways and the microbial signals that modulate them, the differential impacts of microbiota and pathogens (bacterial and viral) on host homeostasis and the cross-talk between infection and host physiology. My lab has particularly focused on the impact of microbes, pathogenic or not on the activity of intestinal stem cells, both as a model of tissue repair, and as a way to dissect how a microbiome interacts with its host. My group's research includes an integrative approach to the role of microbes on tissue homeostasis that incorporates functional genetics in both the host and the microbe, with genomics, transcriptomics, and systems level approaches both in genetic models (Drosophila, mouse) and non-model organisms (for instance the mosquito Aedes aegypti, an important disease vector).

I teach two primary courses. First I am an instructor in BioG1440, "Comparative Physiology", which aims to introduce key physiological concepts to students. In addition, I teach Entom4830 "Insect physiology" which focuses on the mechanisms underlying how insects work.