His laboratory focuses on illuminating the myriad interactions between the immune system and the gut microbiota in health and disease. Dr. Palm performed his doctoral work with Ruslan Medzhitov and his postdoctoral work with Richard Flavell, both at Yale University. The long-term goal of the Palm lab is to understand the mechanisms by which specific members of the human gut microbiota interact with and influence the host immune system, and the effects of this interaction on human physiology in health and disease.