Principal Investigator and Helen P. Rumbel Professor of Micronutrient Research, Linus Pauling Institute
Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Contact:
457 LPSC
541-737-8018
[email protected]
Dr. Gombart is a Principal Investigator in the Linus Pauling Institute and professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the College of Science at Oregon State University. He joined the faculty in 2008 after working as a Research Scientist in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and as an adjunct assistant and associate professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is actively engaged in leading and facilitating interdisciplinary basic and translational research projects both within OSU and across the US. He is strongly committed to educating, training and mentoring post-doctoral researchers, undergraduate and graduate students who wish to pursue careers in the biological and medical sciences; and educating the public through outreach activities.
Research Interests
Dr. Gombart’s group discovered that vitamin D induces the expression of an antimicrobial peptide in humans and primates. His research is focused on understanding the role this regulation plays in immunity, wound healing and barrier defense, and how pathogens may interfere with this regulation to evade the host immune response. Using unique mouse models, his group is determining the possibility to speed wound healing while combating infection by inducing the peptide with nanofiber bandages that release bioactive vitamin D. His group has also identified a potential role for the antimicrobial peptide in bone formation and is working to understand the molecular mechanisms by which it works. In addition, the lab works on understanding how a hops plant polyphenol, xanthohumol, improves obesity and metabolic syndrome through its interactions with host and the microbiota. The overall goal of his research is to develop potential therapies to improve human health.
Education
- B.S., Biology, Oregon State University
- M.S., Genetics, Oregon State University
- Ph.D., Microbiology, University of Washington
- Postdoctoral Fellowship, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
Featured Publications
Newman NK, Zhang Y, Padiadpu J, Miranda CL, Magana AA, Wong CP, Hioki KA, Pederson JW, Li Z, Gurung M, Bruce AM, Brown K, Bobe G, Sharpton TJ, Shulzhenko N, Maier CS, Stevens JF, Gombart AF, Morgun A. (2023) Reducing gut microbiome-driven adipose tissue inflammation alleviates metabolic syndrome. Microbiome. 11(1):208. doi: 10.1186/s40168-023-01637-4.
Logan IE, Shulzhenko N, Sharpton TJ, Bobe G, Liu K, Nuss S, Jones ML, Miranda CL, Vasquez-Perez S, Pennington JM, Leonard SW, Choi J, Wu W, Gurung M, Kim JP, Lowry MB, Morgun A, Maier CS, Stevens JF, Gombart AF. (2021) Xanthohumol requires the intestinal microbiota to improve glucose metabolism in diet-induced obese mice. Mol Nutr Food Res. 65(21):e2100389. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.202100389.
Fantacone ML, Lowry MB, Uesugi SL, Michels AJ, Choi J, Leonard SW, Gombart SK, Gombart JS, Bobe G, Gombart AF. (2020) The effect of a multivitamin and mineral supplement on immune function in healthy older adults: a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial. Nutrients. 12(8):2447. doi: 10.3390/nu12082447.
Su Y, Ganguli-Indra G, Bhattacharya N, Logan IE, Indra AK, Gombart AF, Wong SL, Xie J. (2022) Codelivery of 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 and CYP24A1 inhibitor VID400 by nanofiber dressings promotes endogenous antimicrobial peptide LL-37 induction. Mol Pharm. 19(3):974-984. doi: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.1c00944.
Gombart AF, Pierre A, Maggini S. A review of micronutrients and the immune system – working in harmony to reduce the risk of infection. (2020) Nutrients. 12(1):236. doi: 10.3390/nu12010236.
Gombart AF, Borregaard N, Koeffler HP. (2005) Human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CAMP) gene is a direct target of the vitamin D receptor and is strongly up-regulated in myeloid cells by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. FASEB J. 19(9):1067-1077. doi: 10.1096/fj.04-3284com.