Spotlight on the Lyte Lab

Dr. Mark Lyte
Professor & W. Eugene Lloyd Chair in Toxicology
Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine

Research Area
Dr. Mark Lyte’s work has been foundational in demonstrating the disparate fields of microbiology and neurobiology interact with one another to influence host health, behavior and disease pathogenesis. His research has resulted in the creation of the translational field of microbial endocrinology which unites microbiology with neurobiology and is based on a shared evolutionary-based neurochemical communication pathway between the microbiota and the host.

Origins
As a clinical laboratory scientist running Level 1 trauma hospital labs, Dr. Lyte became interested in the clinical reasons why infections can occur in some people and not in others. Later, during his postdoctoral fellowship in immunopathology he was present at the beginnings of the field of psychoneuroimmunology which addresses the role of stress and the brain in controlling immunity. “I felt that something was not being addressed and that was the infectious grant itself and how it responded to the stress environment within the host whether that gut environment would be in a human, farm or companion animal,” he says.

Funding

• $295,752 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for studying neurophysiological-microbiome mechanisms that enable Salmonella colonization in the stressed gut of poultry and to discover new probiotics to mitigate it.
• $971,967 grant from the Department of Defense Office of Naval Research investigating microbiology endocrinology as a mechanism governing stress-induced microbiome-gut-brain communication.
• $690,683 grant from the University of Wisconsin-Madison investigating material and infant microbiome determinants of brain and behavioral development
• $375,000 grant from Purina Anmal Nutrition investigating microbial endocrinology discovery platform for the next general of animal feeds
• $185,236 grant from Norwegian Veterinary Institute investigating microbial endocrinology as an instigator of bacterial fish disease

Results
Some of Dr. Lyte’s most significant research accomplishments include:

• The demonstration that biofilm formation on indwelling medical devices is due to direct microbial-neurochemical interactions. This discovery is recognized by the medical community as a mechanism by which medical implants and I.V. lines can get contaminated with common skin bacteria and cause infections
• The discovery that bacteria in the gut can be recognized by the brain and result in changes in behavior and memory. This work was one of the first peer-reviewed publication demonstrating the existence of a microbiota-gut brain axis
• The introduction of th hypothesis that priobotics function as neurochemical delivery vehicles which led to the discovery of the first farm production animal probiotics to be patented that address health-related issues in food production animals through the use of microbial endocrinology

Research Team
Mark Lyte
Research Scientist I: Karrie Daniels
Collaborators: Norwegian Veterinary Institute & Auburn University

September 2026