Dr Genelle Lunken is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She also practices as a dietitian and the translational research lead at the IBD Centre of BC. Dr Lunken completed her PhD in Nutritional Science at Massey University in New Zealand, where her research primarily centred on investigating the impact of habitual dietary fibre intake on the response of gut microbiota to a prebiotic intervention.
In 2017, she relocated to Vancouver, Canada, to commence a postdoctoral fellowship under the guidance of Drs Bruce Vallance and Kevan Jacobson at UBC. During her postdoctoral fellowship, her research interests expanded to explore the interplay between fibre, gut microbiota, and inflammation using mouse models of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Since establishing her lab in 2023, Dr. Lunken’s research has focused on expanding our knowledge of host-immune-microbe interactions, with a specific focus on identifying host (i.e., diet) and microbial factors involved in differing responses to medical and dietary therapies in IBD patients. By better understanding individualized responses to treatment, we can move towards developing and using personalized therapeutic programs to improve IBD patient outcomes. She leadsmodels of inflammatory bowel disease.
As of 2023, Dr Lunken established her own research laboratory at UBC. Her research focuses on expanding our knowledge of host-immune-microbe interactions, with a specific focus on identifying host (i.e., diet) and microbial factors involved in differing responses to medical and dietary therapies. By better understanding individualized responses to treatments, we can move towards developing and
using personalized therapeutic programs to improve patient outcomes.