Sara Di Rienzi, MD

Sara Di Rienzi is a member of the Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology and of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine.

In the Di Rienzi Lab, we strive to determine the local and systemic functions of hormones in the gut and how microbes affect these hormones. Our central goals include expanding knowledge of how the gut contributes to the health of the body and understanding how microbes impact physiology to generate new therapeutic approaches. To achieve these goals, we apply a variety of model systems including mice and human intestinal organoids along with methods in imaging, genomics, microbiome analysis, and microbiology.

Please see our lab website for more information: https://www.dirienzilab.org/

Selected publications (corresponding author): 

Di Rienzi SC, Danhof HA, Forshee MD, Roberts A, Britton RA. 2025. Limosilactobacillus reuteri promotes the expression and secretion of enteroendocrine- and enterocyte-derived hormones. The FASEB Journal.39:e70408. https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.202401669R. Read the press release.

Britton RA, Verdu EF, Di Rienzi SC, Muñoz AR, Tarr PI, Preidis GA, and the Biotherapeutics Subcommittee of the AGA Center for Gut Microbiome Research and Education. 2024. Taking Microbiome Science to the Next Level: Recommendations to Advance the Emerging Field of Microbiome-based Therapeutics and Diagnostics. Gastroenterology. 167: 1059-1064. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2024.05.023.

Danhof HA, Lee J, Thapa A, Britton RA, Di RienziSC. 2023. Microbial stimulation of oxytocin release from the intestinal epithelium via secretin signaling. Gut Microbes. 15: 2256043. https://doi.org/10.1080/19490976.2023.2256043.

Di Rienzi SC, Danhof HA, Huerta J, Britton RA. 2022. Separation of the effects of small intestinal microbiome-diet interactions on human gut hormone secretion. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.09.25.509333.

Di Rienzi SC and Britton RA. 2019. Adaptation of the gut microbiota to modern dietary sugars and sweeteners. Advances in Nutrition. pii: nmz118. https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmz118.

Di Rienzi SC, Jacobson J, Kennedy EA, Bell ME, Shi Q, Waters JL, Lawrence P, Brenna JT, Britton RA, Walter J, and Ley RE. 2018. Resilience of small intestinal beneficial bacteria to the toxicity of soybean oil fatty acids. eLife. 7: e3258. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.32581.