Posted: September 21, 2021
From chemistry to metabolomics to ethnobotany, Dr. Joshua Kellogg’s research is a conglomerate of various topics that celebrate the interdisciplinary nature of modern science. His lab is a natural products lab that focuses on health promotion derived from nature including plants, fungi, and bacteria. Currently, some of the lab’s projects include seeking out drugs for both infectious diseases and chronic GI diseases.
In the search for compounds in nature that may help with these infectious and chronic GI diseases, Kellogg employs the use of the field of metabolomics.
“The value of metabolomics is multifold,” Kellogg states. It gives the user a holistic view of all the chemistry used in a given system. This snapshot of chemistry can later be combined with statistics to generate the key differences in the chemistry that could produce a substantial result.
Kellogg himself is a high-spirited man with a great sense of humor. His plant-themed face mask leaves no question of what areas of biology he is passionate about. Originally a chemistry major working in synthetic chemistry, Kellogg became excited in the concepts covering natural resources and their potential contributions to human health after taking a medical ethnobiology class. He realized that he could integrate a number of his passions together including chemistry, plants, and travel among other interests. Today, his passion for student-driven research is at the forefront of his mind.
“What really excites me is having my students make these discoveries,” Kellogg explains in regard to advances made by his laboratory research. He is fond of helping his students strive towards finding the next “big thing” and hopes that his students are able to uncover the ways in which plants and natural resources function with both chemistry and ecology—after all, these organisms produce these toxins and other compounds for their own benefit without humans in mind.
In the near future, Kellogg is looking forward to submitting a review paper for publication with one of his graduate students covering both statistics and metabolism. He has several other projects that are getting close to publication and is looking forward to potentially attending conferences once again this summer, dependent on the state of the pandemic, of course.
Dr. Kellogg is also looking forward to having more people learn about his laboratory research. For more information on his laboratory research and the people he works with, please visit his website at https://sites.psu.edu/kellogglab/. While his lab does not currently have any open positions, he encourages interested students to reach out to him in the future. He can be contacted through email at jjk6146@psu.edu.
