Campbell, Clarissa

The gut microbiota produces a vast array of metabolites that shape host physiology and immune function. Clarissa Campbell’s team investigates how dynamic changes in microbial metabolism influence intestinal biology and mucosal immunity. The group focuses on how feeding-dependent shifts in microbial activity generate bioactive molecules, such as metabolites derived from dietary fibers and bile acids, that promote regulatory T cell differentiation and maintain immune tolerance. 

To address key questions about how these metabolites act in different nutritional states, Clarissa’s team combines candidate-based approaches using curated bacterial molecules with unbiased metabolomics profiling in fed and fasted conditions. They further apply in vitro screening in immune cells and intestinal organoids to identify host targets of microbial signals. 

This research provides critical insight into how diet–microbiome interactions regulate immune homeostasis, with implications for understanding and treating inflammatory and metabolic diseases.

• Impact of microbial metabolites on immune cells in health and disease
• Effect of nutrients on gut bacteria and mucosal immunity
• Metabolic adaptation to infections

• 2006-2010 Bachelor’s degree in Biology (minor: Genetics), UFRJ, Brazil
• 2010-2011 Master’s degree in Immunopharmacology, FIOCRUZ, Brazil
• 2011-2019 Graduate student, Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program, Weill Cornell Medical School of Graduate Sciences, USA
• 2019-2021 Postdoctoral fellow in the Alexander Rudensky lab, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, USA
• July 2021-May 2026 Principal Investigator at the Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (CeMM), Austria
• since May 2026 Tenure-track professorship at the at the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna