Seika Hashimoto-Hill

I am a research scientist interested in mucosal immunology, intestinal immunity, microbiota, nutrition and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). My passion for research was born from the challenges I faced managing clinical cases as a veterinarian and was further fueled during my large animal internal medicine residency at the University of California, Davis. My research focuses on identifying mucosal immune pathways that mediate diet-microbiota-host interactions which are critical for maintaining health.

My primary research objective is to comprehensively elucidate the intricate interplay between diet and the microbiota, discerning their collective effects on host physiology at cellular and molecular levels. This endeavor aims to pave the way toward developing truly effective nutritional interventions, including personalized nutrition strategies.

I developed a strong foundation in mucosal immunology while working in my thesis lab under the mentorship of Dr. Chang Kim. Some of my accomplishments include the discovery of novel roles for retinoic acid (RA) in CD4 T cell function (Mucosal Immunology, 2017) and skin dendritic cell development (Nature Communications, 2018). My initial post-doctorate work with Dr. Alenghat built upon the finding that histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) activity in intestinal epithelial cells was diminished in germ-free mice, which are devoid of associated microbe, compared to conventional mice. We discovered that this regulation was mediated by an inositol phosphate produced by the microbiota (Wu, Hashimoto-Hill et al., Nature, 2020; equal contribution). Expanding on this finding, I explored the protective effects of dietary phytate during enteric infections, resulting in a first-author publication (Hashimoto-Hill et al., Frontiers in Immunology, 2022) and data supporting my K08 proposal.

Some of my work is funded by a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (NIDDK) grant, titled “Commensal bacterial metabolism of dietary phytate in host defense” (K08DK134884, PI Hashimoto-Hill, 07/01/2023 - 04/30/2028). I have been a researcher for over 13 years and began working at Cincinnati Children's in 2012.