Aleksandar Kostic is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology at Harvard University. His research focuses on the interplay between the gut microbiome and the immune system, particularly in the context of autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes. Kostic graduated from the Biological Biomedical Sciences PhD program in 2013, where he developed an understanding of the significant role the gut microbiome plays as the largest mammalian immune organ, co-evolving with humans for hundreds of millions of years. His lab investigates how alterations in gut microbiome composition can lead to immune system dysfunction and various autoimmune diseases. Recent studies from his lab found that the gut microbiome composition was drastically altered in infants before the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, suggesting its role in disease onset. Kostic's research includes computational analysis of large datasets to identify microbial products associated with health and disease, engineering microbes through synthetic biology, and conducting mechanistic studies in gnotobiotic mouse models. He aims to translate his findings into clinical trials involving engineered gut microbes and microbial products.