I am interested in leveraging well-designed, large-scale cohorts to uncover the underlying causes of human diseases. My work integrates cutting-edge next-generation sequencing technologies with advanced bioinformatics and epidemiological approaches to unravel the natural history of diseases and pinpoint critical opportunities for intervention.

A significant focus of my research is on the human microbiome—a dynamic and rich reservoir that provides insights into the past, present, and future health of its host. By examining how the microbiome interacts with host genetics and environmental factors, I aim to identify microbial biomarkers and pathways that drive disease processes, with an eye toward translating these findings into actionable strategies for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

This multidisciplinary approach allows me to address complex health disparities and deepen our understanding of disease etiology, ultimately contributing to improved health outcomes for diverse populations. My work represents a synthesis of molecular epidemiology, microbiome research, and data science, all geared toward advancing precision medicine and public health.

Usyk M, Schlecht NF, Pickering S, Williams L, Sollecito CC, Gradissimo A, Porras C, Safaeian M, Pinto L, Herrero R, Strickler HD, Viswanathan S, Nucci-Sack A, Diaz A; Costa Rica HPV Vaccine Trial (CVT) Group; Burk RD. molBV reveals immune landscape of bacterial vaginosis and predicts human papillomavirus infection natural history. Nat Commun. 2022 Jan 11;13(1):233. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-27628-3. PMID: 35017496; PMCID: PMC8752746.

Usyk M, Zolnik CP, Castle PE, Porras C, Herrero R, Gradissimo A, Gonzalez P, Safaeian M, Schiffman M, Burk RD; Costa Rica HPV Vaccine Trial (CVT) Group. Cervicovaginal microbiome and natural history of HPV in a longitudinal study. PLoS Pathog. 2020 Mar 26;16(3):e1008376. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008376. PMID: 32214382; PMCID: PMC7098574.

Usyk M, Pandey A, Hayes RB, Moran U, Pavlick A, Osman I, Weber JS, Ahn J. Bacteroides vulgatus and Bacteroides dorei predict immune-related adverse events in immune checkpoint blockade treatment of metastatic melanoma. Genome Med. 2021 Oct 13;13(1):160. doi: 10.1186/s13073-021-00974-z. PMID: 34641962; PMCID: PMC8513370.

Usyk M, Peters BA, Karthikeyan S, McDonald D, Sollecito CC, Vazquez-Baeza Y, Shaffer JP, Gellman MD, Talavera GA, Daviglus ML, Thyagarajan B, Knight R, Qi Q, Kaplan R, Burk RD. Comprehensive evaluation of shotgun metagenomics, amplicon sequencing, and harmonization of these platforms for epidemiological studies. Cell Rep Methods. 2023 Jan 23;3(1):100391. doi: 10.1016/j.crmeth.2022.100391. PMID: 36814836; PMCID: PMC9939430.

Usyk M, Zolnik CP, Patel H, Levi MH, Burk RD. Novel ITS1 Fungal Primers for Characterization of the Mycobiome. mSphere. 2017 Dec 13;2(6):e00488-17. doi: 10.1128/mSphere.00488-17. PMID: 29242834; PMCID: PMC5729218.

Usyk M, Schlecht NF, Viswanathan S, Gradissimo A, Valizadegan N, Sollecito CC, Nucci-Sack A, Diaz A, Burk RD. TRiCit: A High-Throughput Approach to Detect Trichomonas vaginalis from ITS1 Amplicon Sequencing. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jul 24;24(14):11839. doi: 10.3390/ijms241411839. PMID: 37511598; PMCID: PMC10380363.