Welcoming Prof. Naama Geva-Zatorsky: Pioneering Microbiome-Immune Insights to Power Synaptiflora’s Mission

We’re proud to welcome Prof. Naama Geva-Zatorsky to Synaptiflora as a scientific advisor. A principal investigator at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Prof. Geva-Zatorsky is one of the most respected researchers in microbiome science, exploring how microbes dynamically interact with our immune system(1) and physiology.

Microbiome Adaptation in Inflammation: The Inversion Code

In her 2024 Cell Host & Microbe paper, Prof. Geva-Zatorsky and colleagues demonstrated that inflammatory conditions and bacteriophage infection dynamically regulate DNA inversion states in gut microbes like Bacteroides fragilis, particularly affecting the expression of polysaccharide A (PSA)—a molecule known to induce regulatory T cells and protect against colitis (1). In both human IBD patients and mouse models, inflammation and increased phage activity were associated with a shift of the PSA promoter to the "OFF" orientation, reducing PSA expression and Treg induction. This reveals a mechanism of bacterial functional plasticity, where phase-variable gene expression enables gut microbes to adapt during disease and potentially alter host immune responses.

Lighting Up the Dark: Visualizing the Invisible Majority

One of Prof. Geva-Zatorsky’s long-standing scientific goals is to develop real-time visualization tools for gut bacteria—especially obligate anaerobes, which dominate the microbiome but are notoriously difficult to study in their native environment due to limitations of traditional fluorescent labeling methods.

In her 2023 Nature Protocols paper, she and her team introduced a novel technique for combinatorial fluorescent labeling of live anaerobic bacteria using azide-modified sugars and click chemistry (2). This approach bypasses the oxygen-dependency of GFP-based reporters and allows fluorescent labeling of newly synthesized macromolecules in living cells, using fluorophores that do not require oxygen to fluoresce. Crucially, this enables researchers to track living microbial communities over time in their natural, oxygen-free environment—an essential step toward dissecting spatial behaviors and mechanistic interactions between microbes and their host.

Translating Science Into Impact

Prof. Geva-Zatorsky’s work elegantly bridges molecular microbiology, immunology, and translational medicine(4). By uncovering the hidden mechanisms of microbial signaling and adaptation, her research is helping to shape the next generation of precision therapeutics—a mission that lies at the heart of Synaptiflora.

Her recent publications not only inform us how bacteria change in disease, but also provide the technical means to study these shifts in real-time. At Synaptiflora, where we integrate microbiome and clinical data using AI to identify responders and improve drug efficacy, her insights will be invaluable.

Welcome to the mission, Naama — we’re honored to have you on board! 🚀

References

1. Geva-Zatorsky N, Sefik E, Kua L, Pasman L, Tan TG, Ortiz-Lopez A, Yanortsang TB, Yang L, Jupp R, Mathis D, Benoist C, Kasper DL. Mining the Human Gut Microbiota for Immunomodulatory Organisms. Cell. (2017)

2. Carasso, S., Zaatry, R., Hajjo, H., Kadosh-Kariti, D., Ben-Assa, N., Naddaf, R., Mandelbaum, N., Pressman, S., Chowers, Y., Gefen, T., Jeffrey, K.L., Jofre, J., Coyne, M.J., Comstock, L.E., Sharon, I., and Geva-Zatorsky, N. (2024). Inflammation and bacteriophages affect DNA inversion states and functionality of the gut microbiota. Cell Host & Microbe.

3. Hajjo, H., Bhardwaj, N., Gefen, T., and Geva-Zatorsky, N. (2023). Combinatorial fluorescent labeling of live anaerobic bacteria via the incorporation of azide-modified sugars into newly synthesized macromolecules. Nature Protocols.

4. https://geva-zatorsky.net.technion.ac.il/