New DDLS Fellow: Chinmay Dwibedi
Get to know our latest SciLifeLab & Wallenberg National Program for Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS) Fellow, Chinmay Dwibedi (Umeå University), in our last Q&A-style article. Chinmay will be joining the data-driven Epidemiology and biology of infection research area.
Chinmay began his academic journey with a degree in Bioinformatics Engineering from Vellore Institute of Technology in India, followed by a brief period in the IT industry. Motivated by a deeper curiosity about biological systems, he returned to academia to pursue a PhD at Umeå University in Sweden, where he was based at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI). During this time, Chinmay applied microbial genomics to explore the ecology and evolution of pathogenic bacteria associated with humans. His doctoral work focused on source attribution and population structure analysis, contributing valuable insights to infectious disease surveillance and microbial epidemiology.
After completing his PhD, he joined the then newly established Wallenberg Centre for Molecular and Translational Medicine in Gothenburg as a postdoctoral researcher. There, Chinmay’s focus shifted to the human gut microbiota, examining how microbial communities influence disease progression and modulate drug responses — particularly in individuals with type 2 diabetes. He led several analyses of clinical trial data, clustering individuals with T2D based on their pathophysiology and/or gut microbiota to infer drug response trajectories.
Chinmay later transitioned to the Wallenberg Laboratory at the Sahlgrenska Academy, where he joined Professor Fredrik Bäckhed’s group. His work there centered on developing next-generation probiotics and using strain-level metagenomics to dissect microbial diversity. He aimed to understand host–microbe interactions in fine detail and identify candidate strains with therapeutic potential.
Currently, he leads an independent research group at the Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), the Swedish node of the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine. Chinmay’s lab investigates the evolution, adaptation, and functional specialization of gut microbial strains, with a particular focus on the ecological and selective forces that shape microbial communities in both health and disease. Through comparative genomics, strain-resolved metagenomics, and microbial population genetics, his team seeks to uncover microbial factors that influence host physiology and enable the rational design of microbiome-based interventions.
How do you think your expertise can contribute to the program?
My journey in microbiome research has been organic and steadily evolving. I began with a strong foundation in bioinformatics and microbial genomics, gradually expanding into host–microbiome interactions, disease associations, and the development of next-generation probiotics. This progression has provided me with a comprehensive understanding of the field, from basic microbial ecology to translational applications. Given the inherently interdisciplinary nature of microbiome science, spanning microbiology, computational biology, statistics, human physiology, and systems ecology, my training positions me well to navigate and integrate these diverse domains. Some key challenge in microbiome research includes treating individual bacterial taxa as homogenous entities and b) disentangling true biological signals from the noise introduced by confounding factors and complex covariate structures in human cohorts. Through my data-driven approach, I aim to develop and apply methods that better account for these variables, improving the robustness and interpretability of microbiome analyses.
As an early-career researcher, I am eager to contribute by leading focused efforts that explore the use of human gut microbes as biomarkers for drug response and identify candidates for therapeutic development based on their adaptive potential. I believe this perspective aligns well with the program’s goals and has the potential to contribute meaningfully to both scientific discovery and translational impact.
Shortly describe your research in an easy to understand way.
My research focuses on understanding how gut microbes adapt to changes in the human body, especially in the context of health and disease. I study these microbes at a finer resolution to uncover how their functions evolve, identifying which roles are shared, which are unique, and how specific functions are gained or lost during adaptation. Gut microbiome data is highly complex: many functions are shared across different bacterial groups, multiple factors can influence microbial populations simultaneously, and microbes interact closely with each other and with the host. My work aims to disentangle these layers of complexity to better interpret the data and ultimately use these learnings to further targeted and effective microbiome-based therapies
How do you think the program and interactions with the other DDLS-Fellows will benefit you?
The DDLS program has been incredibly helpful, not just through its structure but especially through the vibrant community of newly appointed fellows. Each brings unique, complementary expertise, and I find myself constantly learning from their work. Even informal interactions, like lunch discussions or attending their research talks, can be both inspiring and spark entirely new research directions. I’m in regular contact with several fellows, and their openness in sharing experiences around grant writing, manuscript preparation, and research management has been invaluable. Recently, I collaborated with a DDLS fellow on a PALS project, and together with a third fellow, we’re applying a new technique to explore distinct questions within our respective areas. I fully expect to build more of these collaborative, cross-disciplinary partnerships in the near future.
Name one thing that people generally do not know about you.
I never miss a good movie – it’s my way of staying sane 🙂
Where do you see yourself in five years regarding the DDLS aspect?
As I begin my journey as a DDLS Fellow, our goal is to build a cutting-edge research program focused on advancing microbiome data analysis and produce science with a lasting impact. Over the next five years, I envision translating this vision into a productive, interdisciplinary research environment driven by a dynamic and motivated team. We aim for our data-driven discoveries to not only deepen our understanding of microbiome science but also enhance its translational potential in medicine and health. We hope to grow beyond a small team and become an integral part of an international, collaborative research community, actively engaging with other groups within and beyond the DDLS network .
In one word, describe how you feel about becoming a DDLS-Fellow.
Grateful!
