College of Medicine
Karst Lab
Led by Stephanie Karst · Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
What we study
The Karst Lab studies how maternal and microbial signals, like bile acids, influence early-life health, focusing on neonatal immunity, metabolic programming, and developmental biology. The team uses mouse models and integrates virology, microbiology, and metabolism.
What working here is like
- Wet lab
- Mice
- Bacteria & microbes
- Projects
- 4
- Papers
- 5
What we're looking for
“We regularly mentor undergraduate researchers interested in gaining experience in biomedical research.”
Current projects
Maternal signals help determine how effectively newborns respond to viral infection
Maternal and microbial bile acids protect against severe neonatal norovirus disease by activating a TGR5-dependent type I interferon response.
Milk bile acids regulate susceptibility to infection
Milk bile acids influence neonatal immunity through a TGR5-independent mechanism.
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Milk bile acids regulate neonatal growth
Milk bile acids promote growth via TGR5-dependent signaling and the IGF-1 axis.
Long-term metabolic effects of milk bile acids
Milk bile acids alter adipose tissue development and metabolic health in adult offspring.
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Early-life gammaherpesvirus infection results in an expanded long-term latent reservoir
2026 · Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology
Studies how early childhood virus infections affect long-term health risks.
- ASBT governs neonatal bile acid homeostasis early in life despite its strong ileal repression
2025 · American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology
Finds that a protein helps control bile acid levels in newborns despite being usually turned off.
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- Maternal diet shapes milk bile acids to regulate neonatal growth through TGR5
2025 · Cell Reports
Shows how maternal diet changes milk bile acids to control infant growth.
- Metabolic immaturity and breastmilk bile acid metabolites are central determinants of heightened newborn vulnerability to norovirus diarrhea
2024 · Cell Host & Microbe
- Microbiota regulates neonatal disease tolerance to virus-evoked necrotizing enterocolitis by shaping the STAT1-NLRC5 axis in the intestinal epithelium
2024 · Cell Host & Microbe
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Stephanie Karst hasn't set up this page yet. Their UF Scholars profile lists their publications.