Julie Segre

Biosketch

Julie Segre works across disciplines to study the human-associated microbiome and its role in health and disease. She is known particularly for foundational studies of the human skin microbiome and deploying genomics to track hospital acquired infections. Segre received her B.A. in mathematics from Amherst College, her PhD in Genetics/Genomics from MIT, and postdoctoral training in skin biology at the University of Chicago. Segre’s research integrates DNA sequence technology, algorithm development and clinical studies to explore the diversity of bacteria, fungi and viruses colonizing humans. She explores the skin topography to consider how physiology impacts the assembly and maintenance of microbial communities. Tracking multi-drug resistant organisms in healthcare ecosystems, her current research focuses on ESKAPE pathogens and the emerging fungal pathogen Candida auris. She has worked on science policy affecting antimicrobial resistance, pandemic preparedness and gender harassment. Segre is committed to scientific communities that recognize, integrate and champion equity, diversity and inclusion. She serves on the board of the American Society for Microbiology and is a member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.

Research Interests

Julie Segre's laboratory is interested in fundamental studies of how microbial communities impact human health. They performed foundational genomic studies to characterize the bacteria, fungi, virus that colonize the vast topography of the human skin, demonstrating that body site tropism is a major determinant of communities assembled from the kingdom to the species and even strain level. Studying both patients with common skin disorders, such as atopic dermatitis, or rare immune deficiencies, they have investigated the intersection of skin barrier, immunity and microbes. Complementing this work on the human microbiome project, the Segre laboratory develops and deploys genomic methods to track hospital acquired infections including bacterial ESKAPE pathogens and fungal Candida auris. Segre enjoys catalyzing collaborations between clinical and basic scientists to develop translational research projects.