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Rebecca A. Valls, PhD

Dartmouth College

Rebecca A. Valls is a postdoctoral researcher at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth specializing in microbiology and immunology related to cystic fibrosis. During her PhD, completed in 2024 at Dartmouth, she helped develop a project studying the gut microbiome of children with cystic fibrosis within the lab of Dr. George O'Toole. Her work focused on how microbes in the gut, particularly Bacteroides species, influence host inflammation and disease progression. Using in-vitro tissu culture and pathogen-free mouse CF models, Rebecca identified propionate, a key metabolite produced by Bacteroides, as an important regulator that reduces systemic and pulmonary inflammatory cytokines in cystic fibrosis. In parallel, she applied machine learning methods, including random forest modeling, to analyze stool microbiome data from infants and children with cystic fibrosis, predicting pulmonary clinical outcomes based on stool microbial community profiles. These studies advanced understanding of how specific microbial metabolites, or their absence, and the gut microbial ecosystem interact with the host immune system, highlighting critical connections within the gut-lung axis.
Currently, as a postdoctoral fellow in the Bomberger Lab, Rebecca’s research has shifted toward investigating pathogens in the lungs of individuals with cystic fibrosis. Building on her PhD experience with gut microbes, she now explores how gut dysbiosis influences systemic and pulmonary lipid profiles and, ultimately, pathogen adaptation in the lungs. This includes studying how altered microbial communities in the gut affect chylomicron formation (lipoproteins responsible for lipid packaging and delivery) and host immune responses. Her work also focuses on the evolution and adaptation of the opportunistic lung pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, employing whole genome sequencing, Dual-seq, and co-culture models to understand pathogen behavior driven by systemic lipid delivery and changes in nutritional availability. Rebecca is dedicated to translating these findings into microbiome-targeted therapies aimed at improving clinical outcomes for individuals living with cystic fibrosis and related diseases. In particular, her work addresses complex host-microbe interactions across multiple body sites, with a focus on the post-modulator era, which has highlighted the growing need to better understand gastrointestinal discomfort and inflammation.

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