Rutgers University-New Brunswick · Microbiology & ImmunologyVitamin D and Intestinal Health Research Group
Sylvia S Christakos · New Brunswick, New Jersey
Research Focus
Dr. Sylvia S. Christakos' lab at Rutgers focuses on how vitamin D influences intestinal health, especially as we age. They study the mechanisms behind vitamin D's role in calcium absorption and its protective effects against inflammation and cancer in the gut. The lab aims to uncover why older adults often experience a reduced response to vitamin D and how targeted therapies can enhance its beneficial effects.
vitamin Dintestinal healthcalcium absorptionaginggene regulationinflammationcancer preventiongenomicsnutrigenomics
Research Aims
3AIM 01Determine how aging alters the genomic action of vitamin D in the intestine.
AIM 02Investigate the role of transcription factors in vitamin D's effects on gene expression across the lifespan.
AIM 03Test the efficacy of colon-targeted vitamin D in enhancing calcium absorption and preventing bone loss.
Skills the Lab Values
PCRATAC-seqChIP-seqorganoid culturegene expression analysismouse modelsmolecular cloningDNA sequencingdata analysis with R
Output against the department
Publications249top 23% of dept.111th of 486
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations17ktop 22% of dept.109th of 486
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.