Rate My Professor Ryan Hunter

Hunter's research specializes in bacterial pathogenesis, bioinformatics, microbial pathogenesis, and host-pathogen interactions, with a focus on airway pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, anaerobe-host interactions, polymicrobial infections, and microbiota associated with cystic fibrosis and gastrointestinal complications. His laboratory develops innovative models to study mucus-microbe interactions and multi-omic analyses of host-associated communities. Key publications include 'Dual oxic-anoxic co-culture enables direct study of anaerobe–host interactions at the airway epithelial interface' (mBio, 2025, with P.J. Moore et al.), 'Commensal-derived short-chain fatty acids disrupt lipid membrane homeostasis in Staphylococcus aureus' (mBio, 2025, with J.R. Fletcher et al.), 'Host- and microbial-mediated mucin degradation differentially shape Pseudomonas aeruginosa physiology and gene expression' (PLoS Pathogens, 2025, with S.J. Arif et al.), and 'Microbiome and metabolome patterns after lung transplantation reflect underlying disease and chronic lung allograft dysfunction' (Microbiome, 2024, with C. Martin et al.). Hunter has received the NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from NHLBI (2012), Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor (2016), Clinical and Translational Science Institute Mentor of the Year Honorable Mention (2016), and Most Engaging Professor, Upper Division (2019). As Principal Investigator, he leads grants from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and National Cancer Institute on topics including cystic fibrosis microbiota, antibiotic development, and microbial contributions to tumorigenesis.