Patrick Schloss, Ph.D., is a microbial ecologist interested in understanding the stability of the gut community and how this stability affects colonization resistance and health. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. from Cornell University in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, where he focused on the microbial community dynamics in engineered ecosystems. His postdoctoral training was done at the University of Wisconsin in the laboratory of Dr. Jo Handelsman, where he began to develop computational tools to analyze microbial community data being generated in metagenomic projects.

After being on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts for 3 years, he has spent the last 9 years as an assistant, associate and now full professor at the University of Michigan; he is the Frederick G. Novy Collegiate Professor of Microbiome Research.

His research group studies community stability in humans and mouse models using next generation sequencing technologies and computational biology to better understand Clostridium difficile infections and the progression of colorectal cancer. To facilitate these studies, Schloss invests considerable effort in developing bioinformatics tools to analyze 16S rRNA gene sequence data. He has also been instrumental in developing instructional materials to help microbiologists engage in research practices that foster greater reproducibility. Schloss is a past Editor of Applied and Environmental Microbiology and is the Chair of the ASM Journals Board.