N&M grad student Juyeong Cho of the Chaudhari lab was awarded the 2025-26 Ruth Dickie Research Scholarship by the UW-Madison chapter of Graduate Women in Science (GWIS) for her research!
Methotrexate (MTX) is a common drug used to treat cancer and inflammation, but it often causes harmful side effects in the gut. Certain gut bacteria can detoxify this drug by breaking it down into a small molecule called DAMPA. Until recently, DAMPA was thought to be inert, but Juyeong’s research has shown that it actively protects the gut from damage and reduces inflammation. This study challenges the traditional view of bacterial MTX metabolites as inactive molecules. Overall, this work proposes to advance our understanding of host–microbe interactions by revealing how microbially derived drug metabolites influence host inflammation.
