Research News

William (B.J.) Massey, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Inflammation & Immunity lab of Florian Rieder, MD, traces his interest in science back to childhood.

“Growing up, the thing I loved more than anything else was playing baseball,” Dr. Massey says. “At a certain point, I turned my attention from playing to studying the science of it: human physiology, diet, nutrition and exercise. My course of study really started there.”

He was encouraged by his high school science teachers and then chose to double major in biology and chemistry as an undergraduate – even when he was advised not to. His journey continued when he entered Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine’s Molecular Medicine PhD program in 2018, investigating the gut microbiome. Now, he is one significant step closer to leading a lab and team of his own.

Past mentee becomes future mentor

Dr. Massey has been part of two labs since he came to Cleveland Clinic, and he credits both lab leaders and teams for helping to shape his journey. He first worked with J. Mark Brown, PhD, whose lab has a broad, exploratory focus that Dr. Massey says helped him think about how basic science can relate to human health in the clinic.

After completing his PhD, Dr. Massey shifted to Dr. Rieder’s lab and narrowed his research focus to align with the Rieder Lab’s exploration of the two kinds of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). He was one of the inaugural recipients of the 2023 Global Center for Pathogen & Human Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship awards for his exploration into the connections between the gut microbiome and IBD. He describes the award as an important institutional investment that helped him establish his credibility as a researcher.

Dr. Brown and Dr. Rieder helped him grow as a researcher and coached him through his own grant applications, Dr. Massey says, even sharing their applications as examples. While working in their labs, he’s also started to mentor younger team members.

“I thought I loved bench work, but now I find it more fulfilling to teach somebody else,” he says. “I’ve started to figure out what my leadership style would be as I look toward the future, and the influences of both Dr. Brown and Dr. Rieder are in there.”

Next stop: Independent researcher

Over the past four years, Dr. Massey’s research has focused on investigating how the gut microbiome directly contributes to IBD and intestinal fibrosis by “eating” dietary nutrients to produce small molecule metabolites.

Now, a K99/R00 grant from the National Institutes of Health will propel him through the next five years. Formally known as the Pathway to Independence Award, a K99/R00 provides postdoctoral researchers with career development support that will help them become independent principal investigators. His work with this award will narrow in on choline, an essential dietary component, and its conversion pathway. Choline from food is converted into trimethylamine (TMA) by microbes, and then the body converts TMA into trimethylamine N-oxide, or TMAO.

“I’m biased toward studying the gut microbiome because it seems to be modifiable and can change over time,” Dr. Massey says. “If we can figure out how to add in or remove specific microbes selectively, that may prove safer than trying to do anything with our genetics.”

He concludes with appreciation and excitement for the opportunity to not only make discoveries through his own research, but to also support, teach and work with the next generation of scientists as a team – bringing him back to what he loved from his days on the baseball field.