Rob Knight

Rob Knight is the founding Director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation and a Professor of Pediatrics and Computer Science & Engineering at UC San Diego. He is also the Principal Investigator at Knight Lab, where he delves into the microbial ecosystems on and within human bodies to understand their impacts on health and disease. Knight is known for his seminal work in microbial ecology, linking microbes to various health conditions such as obesity and inflammatory bowel disease, and expanding our understanding of microbial environments from oceans to tundra.

Previously, Knight held positions as a Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry and Computer Science at the BioFrontiers Institute of the University of Colorado at Boulder. His contributions to microbiome science include developing significant software tools and laboratory techniques, such as the QIIME pipeline and UniFrac, which have made high-throughput sequencing techniques accessible to numerous researchers globally. He is a co-founder of the Earth Microbiome Project and the American Gut Project, one of the largest crowdfunded science projects of any kind. Additionally, he co-founded Biota, Inc., a company that leverages DNA from microbes to inform oilfield decisions.

Knight's literary contributions include "Follow Your Gut: The Enormous Impact of Tiny Microbes" and "Dirt is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child’s Developing Immune System." His accolades include receiving the Vilceck Prize in Creative Promise for the Life Sciences in 2015 and the Massry Prize in 2017, which is often viewed as a precursor to the Nobel Prize. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Academy of Microbiology. Further highlighting his influence in the scientific community, Knight has authored over 600 scientific articles and has spoken at notable platforms, including TED in 2014 and Davos.