Professor Emma Hamilton-Williams’ laboratory at the Frazer Institute, University of Queensland focuses on understanding the role of the gut microbiota in as a potential trigger or therapy to treat autoimmune type 1 diabetes. She uses state-of-the-art metaproteomics and metabolomics to probe how disturbances in the gut microbiota of children with type 1 diabetes impacts the function of the microbiota, the gut and the pancreas. She recently currently conducted a clinical trial of a microbiome-targeting intervention aimed at restoring a healthy microbiome and immune tolerance, with an ultimate goal of preventing type 1 diabetes. She is using longitudinal birth-cohort samples to understand how the function of the gut microbiota changes across time in early life, preceding the onset of type 1 diabetes.