Biologist Karen Guillemin is an internationally recognized expert in microbiology, cell and development biology, and host-microbe systems, and is developing new models to define host-microbe interactions in development and disease. Guillemin examines how hosts and their associated microbial communities shape each other, with the goal of understanding the principles by which complex host-microbe systems function and to learn how they can be manipulated to promote the health of human systems. 

Karen pioneered the use of zebrafish to study host-microbe interactions, including the influence of the gut microbiome on development, metabolism, and immunity.

A fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, she serves as Phillip H. Knight Chair and professor of biology at the University of Oregon in the Institute of Molecular Biology. She has been on the faculty of the UO since 2001 and published more than 100 scientific papers.