Rob Knight

Rob Knight is a foundational figure in microbiome bioinformatics who co-developed QIIME, the most widely used software suite for microbiome analysis, enabling global standardization of microbiome studies. He co-led the Earth Microbiome Project and American Gut Project generating the world's largest microbiome datasets. His work on tumor microbiomes revealed that bacteria are ubiquitous within human tumors and their species composition reflects tumor type. He has been an invaluable technical and analytical resource for cancer microbiome research globally and serves as a methodological standard-setter for the field.