Q&A with Gracelyn Richmond: Designing a ‘Superhero Bacteria’ to Relieve Gut Stress
March 25, 2026Gracelyn Richmond, a fifth-year PhD candidate at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, aims to create therapeutic products that could improve gastrointestinal symptoms by leveraging bacterial interactions in the gut microbiome.
Scientists are just like you. That’s the message Gracelyn Richmond wishes she could tell every American.
“We live in your community. We’re your kids, we’re your parents, we’re your spouses, we’re your neighbors,” she said. “I’m just a kid from suburban Madison, Wisconsin. I went to public school K-12. Anybody can be a scientist.”
Richmond is a fifth-year PhD candidate at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and she received a 2026 PhRMA Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship in Drug Delivery for her research on the gut microbiome, the community of microbes (bacteria, viruses, and fungi) that live in your intestines.
Richmond aims to create therapeutic products that could improve gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhea and constipation by leveraging bacterial interactions in the gut microbiome. Using both computer simulations and intestinal organoids in the lab, she is designing and testing a “superhero bacteria” to promote good interactions between the bacteria already residing in the gut. This superhero bacteria would be delivered orally to alleviate gastrointestinal stress.
Watch this video to learn more about Richmond, her career journey, and her research.
Learn more about the PhRMA Foundation’s fellowship and grant opportunities. Check out more researcher stories on our blog.
