Biography and education
About
Dr. Gar Yee Koh is an Assistant Professor in the School of Family and Consumer Sciences at Texas State University. Dr. Koh earned her doctorate degree (PhD) in Nutritional Sciences from Iowa State University (ISU), as well as a Master’s in forestry and a Bachelor’s degree in Nutritional Sciences, both from Louisiana State University. She also completed her postdoctoral trainings at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (2015 – 2019) and Citrus Research and Education Center at the University of Florida (2019 – 2020). As part of a multidisciplinary team, her research work aimed to promote gut health and metabolic disease prevention at the cellular and molecular levels.
Dr. Koh’s research focuses on promoting gut health to prevent complications resulting from obesity and other metabolic diseases. Her research has 3 main themes: 1) remodel gut microbiota to prevent obesity-induced gut inflammation, 2) identify and develop new dietary interventions to optimize vitamin D status in people with obesity and diabetes, and 3) investigate the effect of maternal diet on vitamin D metabolism among offspring. Her lab employs a variety of biochemical and molecular techniques, cell culture, rodents, and other in vitro methods to address these health priorities.
Dr. Koh is currently seeking collaborative opportunity in nutrition and gut microbiome, particularly with a focus on obesity and/or diabetes.
A complete list of Dr. Koh’s bibliography can be found here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1DWn58WVizhAy/bibliography/public/
Dr. Gar Yee Koh is an Assistant Professor in the School of Family and Consumer Sciences at Texas State University. Dr. Koh earned her doctorate degree (PhD) in Nutritional Sciences from Iowa State University (ISU), as well as a Master’s in forestry and a Bachelor’s degree in Nutritional Sciences, both from Louisiana State University. She also completed her postdoctoral trainings at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (2015 – 2019) and Citrus Research and Education Center at the University of Florida (2019 – 2020). As part of a multidisciplinary team, her research work aimed to promote gut health and metabolic disease prevention at the cellular and molecular levels.
Dr. Koh’s research focuses on promoting gut health to prevent complications resulting from obesity and other metabolic diseases. Her research has 3 main themes: 1) remodel gut microbiota to prevent obesity-induced gut inflammation, 2) identify and develop new dietary interventions to optimize vitamin D status in people with obesity and diabetes, and 3) investigate the effect of maternal diet on vitamin D metabolism among offspring. Her lab employs a variety of biochemical and molecular techniques, cell culture, rodents, and other in vitro methods to address these health priorities.
Dr. Koh is currently seeking collaborative opportunity in nutrition and gut microbiome, particularly with a focus on obesity and/or diabetes.
A complete list of Dr. Koh’s bibliography can be found here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1DWn58WVizhAy/bibliography/public/
Teaching Interests
Research Interests
Featured grants
- Koh, Gar Yee (Co-Principal), Percent Contribution: %33.3, Salcedo, Ramona (Co-Principal), Percent Contribution: %33.3, Zhu, Jie (Co-Principal), Percent Contribution: %33.3. Supporting Undergraduates in Research to Gain Experience (SURGE) 2023, College of Applied Arts, Texas State University, $6000. (Funded: October 31, 2025 - Present). Grant.
- Koh, Gar Yee (Principal). Optimizing vitamin D status with prebiotic fiber – a novel strategy for prevention of obesity-induced gut inflammation, Texas State University, $8000. (Funded: January 2024 - May 2025). Grant.
- Zhu, Jie (Co-Principal), Percent Contribution: %33.3, Koh, Gar Yee (Co-Principal), Percent Contribution: %33.3, Salcedo, Ramona (Co-Principal), Percent Contribution: %33.3. Supporting Undergraduates in Research to Gain Experience (SURGE) 2023, College of Applied Arts, Texas State University, $6000. (Funded: August 31, 2023 - June 1, 2024). Grant.
- Huertas Pau, Maria del Mar (Principal), Percent Contribution: %75, Lu, Yuan (Co-Principal), Percent Contribution: %5, Fuess, Lauren (Co-Principal), Percent Contribution: %5, Peterson, Ryan (Co-Principal), Percent Contribution: %5, Koh, Gar Yee (Co-Principal), Percent Contribution: %5, Gracia, Dana (Co-Principal), Percent Contribution: %5. MARC: Acquisition of tissue processing and embedding machines to produce fixed-paraffin-embedded blocks of biological tissues, Texas State University, $52500. (Submitted: September 2022, Funded: September 2022 - February 2023). Grant.
- Koh, Gar Yee (Co-Principal), Percent Contribution: %33.3, Zhu, Jie (Co-Principal), Percent Contribution: %33.3, Salcedo Price, Ramona (Co-Principal), Percent Contribution: %33.3. Supporting Undergraduates in Research to Gain Experience (SURGE) 2022, College of Applied Arts, Texas State University, $6000. (Funded: August 12, 2022 - June 1, 2023). Grant.
Featured scholarly/creative works
- Brunelle, K., Butler, E., Nobles, Z., Lewis, L., Hernandez, S., & Koh, G. Y. (n.d.). Fructooligosaccharide upregulates colonic vitamin D receptor and modulates inflammatory status in high-fat diet-induced obese C57BL/6 mice. International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research. Retrieved from https://www.imrpress.com/journal/IJVNR/96/1/10.31083/IJVNR45457
- Butler, E., Brunelle, K., Nobles, Z., & Koh, G. Y. (2025). Suppression of renal pro-inflammatory cytokines by fructooligosaccharides is associated with renal vitamin D signaling in high-fat diet-induced obese C57BL/6 mice. Current Developments in Nutrition, 9(Supplement 2), 107403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2025.107403
- Brunelle, K., Butler, E., Nobles, Z., Lewis, L., & Koh, G. Y. (2025). Fructooligosaccharide upregulates colonic vitamin D receptors and modulates inflammatory status in high-fat diet-induced obese male C57BL/6 mice. Current Developments in Nutrition, 9(Supplement 2), 107416. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2025.107416
- Koh, G. Y., Butler, E., & Nobles, Z. (2024). Combination effects of fructooligosaccharides and vitamin D on antimicrobial peptides expressions in the small intestine. Current Developments in Nutrition, 8.
- Hanson, T., Constantine, E., Nobles, Z., Butler, E., Renteria, K., Teoh, C. M., & Koh, G. Y. (2024). Supplementation of Vitamin D3 and Fructooligosaccharides Downregulates Intestinal Defensins and Reduces the Species Abundance of Romboutsia ilealis in C57BL/6J Mice. Nutrients, 16(14). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16142236
Featured awards
- Award / Honor Recipient: Hamish N. Munro Award for Excellence in Post-Doctoral Research, Jean Mayer USDA HNRCA at Tufts University. May 2017
- Award / Honor Recipient: Research Excellence Award, Iowa State University. December 2015
- Award / Honor Recipient: Outstanding Reviewer, Food and Function. 2017
- Award / Honor Recipient: Reviewer of the Year 2016, Journal of Diabetes. 2016
- Award / Honor Recipient: Graduate Student Research Award, American Society for Nutrition. April 2014
Featured service activities
- Member
Lab Safety Committee
- Member
Research Enhancement Program FY25
- Member
Search Committee - Assistant Professor
- Reviewer / Referee
Gut Microbes
- Reviewer / Referee
Clinical Nutrition
- Reviewer / Referee
Nutrition Reviews