SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 24, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — uBiome, the leader in microbial genomics, announces the addition of Dr. Katie Pollard, PhD, Director of the Gladstone Institute of Data Science and Biotechnology, Professor at UCSF, and Investigator at the Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub, to its Scientific Advisory Board. Joining the board of leading scientists and doctors from around the world, Dr. Pollard will bring to uBiome her expertise on the human microbiome and people’s response to therapeutics. The appointment will help uBiome continue its advancement in human microbiome research.

“Dr. Pollard has spent years using machine-learning to research human genomics and the microbiome, and her work has broad implications for the future of healthcare,” Dr. Jessica Richman, PhD, co-founder and CEO of uBiome, said. “We are honored to bring her on as one of uBiome’s scientific advisors.”

At Gladstone Institute, Dr. Pollard’s lab focuses on emerging technologies and informatics. Recently, they released software that quantifies microbial population genetic variation that can be scaled for use by hospitals. After earning her PhD from UC Berkeley, Dr. Pollard has engaged in a number of research endeavors, including a comparative genomics NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Center for Biomolecular Science & Engineering at UC Santa Cruz. She was also part of the Chimpanzee Sequencing and Analysis Consortium that published the sequence of the Chimp Genome, and Dr. Pollard used this sequence to identify the fastest evolving regions in the human genome. Throughout her career, she has authored over 100 journal articles and study publications. Honors include UCSF’s Breakthrough Biomedical Research Award (2009-2010), Wired Magazine’s Best Scientific Visualizations (2013), and Alumna of the Year from UC Berkeley School of Public Health (2013), among others.

About joining uBiome’s Scientific Advisory Board, Dr. Pollard said, “I am excited to advise uBiome on new directions as the world rapidly gains more understanding of our dynamic ‘other genome.'”

In addition to Dr. Pollard, the uBiome Scientific Advisory Board also includes Dr. Joseph DeRisi (MacArthur Genius and UCSF professor), Dr. Atul Butte (head of the Institute for Computational Health Sciences at UCSF), Dr. Joel Palefsky (UCSF School of Medicine professor), Dr. George Church (leading geneticist at Harvard University), Dr. Liz Lipski (Academic Director of Nutrition and Integrative Health Programs at Maryland University of Integrative Health), Dr. Elaine Hsiao, PhD (UCLA), and other leading scientists. The company’s Medical Advisory Board includes Dr. Alan Green (Society for Participatory Medicine), Dr. Leo Treyzon (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center), Dr. Cynthia Geyer (Medical Director of Canyon Ranch, Lenox), Dr. Robynne Chutkan (Georgetown University Hospital), Michael Docktor (Boston Children’s Hospital), Dr. Tiffany Lester (Medical Director of Parsley Health in San Francisco), Dr. Joel Kahn (Founder of of the Kahn Center for Cardiac Longevity), as well as other accomplished clinicians.

About uBiome
Founded in 2012, uBiome is the leader in microbial genomics. The Company’s mission is to advance the science of the microbiome and make it useful to people. uBiome combines its patented proprietary precision sequencing™ with machine learning and artificial intelligence to develop wellness products, clinical tests, and therapeutic targets.

uBiome’s commercial products include SmartGut™, the world’s first sequencing-based clinical microbiome test, which identifies microbes in the gut for patients with chronic gut conditions such as IBD, IBS, Crohn’s Disease, and ulcerative colitis; SmartJane™, the first sequencing-based women’s health screening test, which genotypes all 19 clinically relevant strains of HPV, identifies four common STDs, and surveys more than 20 vaginal microbes associated with bacterial vaginosis and other conditions; and Explorer™, a health and wellness product to understand the role that food and lifestyle can play in wellness.

uBiome’s platform has been used by hundreds of thousands of consumers, patients, and doctors and more than 200 research institutions around the world, including the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), US National Institutes of Health (NIH), Harvard University, Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California, San Francisco, Oxford University, and the University of Sydney.

Since its launch, the company has received widespread recognition including CNN 10: Startups to Watch, the IVY Technology Award, CNN Future 30, and was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in Healthcare in 2016 and in Data Science in 2018, as well as a Technology Pioneer from the World Economic Forum in 2018. For more information, visit http://www.uBiome.com.

SOURCE Ubiome