BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Marie-Claire Arrieta .

Dr. Marie-Claire Arrieta an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary in Canada. She received her undergraduate degree in Microbiology from Universidad de Costa Rica, and later received MSc and PhD degrees from the University of Alberta. Following her postdoctoral training at the University of British Columbia (Brett Finlay’s group), she joined the departments of Physiology, Pharmacology and Pediatrics of the University of Calgary in 2016.

Her research program examines the interactions between the early-life gut microbiome and the infant’s immune, metabolic and neurological development. This work is framed around a translational approach, in which samples collected from children undergoing clinical care or enrolled in birth cohort studies are used to characterize the microbial alterations associated with asthma. Her research group also examines the causality and mechanisms of these associations in mouse models of inflammation, placing her work at a critical interface between clinical studies and experimental animal work. A committed mentor, she has served as the primary research advisor to a diverse cohort of over 40 undergraduate, medical, PhD, and post-doctoral scholars.

Her contributions as first or senior author have been published in leading journals such as Gut, Science Translational Medicine, Cell Host and Microbe and Nature Communications. She was awarded the CIHR-Sick Kids New Investigator Award in 2018, which is given to a select group of Canadian young investigators with outstanding contributions to children’s health. In 2020, she received the Killam Emerging Research Leader and the Peter Lougheed Research awards, given to top researchers at UCalgary, as well being named one of Calgary’s top 40 under 40 in 2017, and a UCalgary Peak Scholar in 2018. In 2023, she was selected as an UCalgary Research Excellence Chair and invited to joined the Academy of Science of the Royal Society of Canada. As an advocate of science communication to the public, Dr. Arrieta has written a best-selling public book, Let Them Eat Dirt, and is involved in several science