As a microbial ecologist and computational biologist, Andre’s research aims to understand how the community of microbes in our guts impact human health. Andre has a particular interest in the mechanisms that underpin the role of commensal microorganisms facilitating infections with antimicrobial resistant pathogens.

Andre’s research to date informs gut microbiome engineering strategies towards translating observations from the bench to human-relevant therapeutic applications. For example, he led a project applying integrative omic analyses (neural networking) to link metabolites with their likely microbial hosts in the context of infection with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium. He also led a project characterising the microbiome of a University of California, San Diego Health patient undergoing adjunctive bacteriophage therapy to treat a persistent Staphylococcus aureus device infection associated with bacteraemia. Results from Andre’s proof-of-principal study supports the use of lytic bacteriophages as a microbiome-sparring approach to treat bacterial infections.