Researcher | Research Overview
Dr. Siegel's research focuses on ways to reduce complications from hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) in children. He leads a collaboration between the labs of Drs. Leslie Kean and Seth Rakoff-Nahoum to study the gut microbiome during pediatric HCT. HCT can be a life-saving treatment, but its use is limited by complications including infections and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). The microbiome, the microbes that colonize the human gut, has been associated with HCT outcomes, and therefore has emerged as a possible way to diagnose and intervene on these complications. The studies linking an altered gut microbiome to HCT complications have largely been in adults, however, and their conclusions are not necessarily applicable to children, in whom the gut microbiome is undergoing rapid and significant shifts. In the Rakoff-Nahoum and Kean labs, Dr. Siegel studies the gut microbiome before, during and after pediatric HCT to close this gap in knowledge and improve our ability to limit HCT complications.
Researcher | Research Background
Dr. Siegel completed his MD and PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. His PhD training in Dr. Jeffrey Weiser’s lab focused on how pathogens exploit inflammation to promote infection, studying how the pneumococcus takes advantage of the host response to influenza infection to promote colonization. While in pediatric residency at Boston Children's Hospital, he joined the labs of Drs. Seth Rakoff-Nahoum and Richard Cummings to study host mucosal glycans used by colonizing members of the gut microbiome. This work continued during pediatric infectious diseases fellowship at BCH, and was funded by the Pediatric Scientist Development Program. After completing fellowship, he joined the faculty of the division of Infectious Diseases and is a postdoctoral fellow in the Rakoff-Nahoum lab as well as that of Dr. Leslie Kean, focusing on the intersection of the gut microbiome and pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HCT). He is funded by a BCH Office of Faculty Development career development award.