Rob Knight

462.8k total citations · 84 hit papers
898 papers, 227.5k citations indexed

About

Rob Knight is a scholar working on Molecular Biology, Ecology and Physiology. According to data from OpenAlex, Rob Knight has authored 898 papers receiving a total of 227.5k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 648 papers in Molecular Biology, 177 papers in Ecology and 163 papers in Physiology. Recurrent topics in Rob Knight's work include Gut microbiota and health (471 papers), Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies (145 papers) and Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology (128 papers). Rob Knight is often cited by papers focused on Gut microbiota and health (471 papers), Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies (145 papers) and Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology (128 papers). Rob Knight collaborates with scholars based in United States, United Kingdom and China. Rob Knight's co-authors include Catherine Lozupone, Noah Fierer, J. Gregory Caporaso, Micah Hamady, Jeffrey I. Gordon, José C. Clemente, Ruth E. Ley, Peter J. Turnbaugh, Christian L. Lauber and Brian J. Haas and has published in prestigious journals such as Nature, Science and New England Journal of Medicine.

In The Last Decade

Rob Knight

873 papers receiving 223.8k citations

Hit Papers

UCHIME improves sensitivity and speed of chimera detection 2005 2026 2012 2019 2011 2010 2013 2012 2005 4.0k 8.0k 12.0k
What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

  1. UCHIME improves sensitivity and speed of chimera detection
    2011 12.3k citations Rob Knight et al. profile →
  2. Global patterns of 16S rRNA diversity at a depth of millions of sequences per sample
    2010 7.1k citations J. Gregory Caporaso, Catherine Lozupone et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences profile →
  3. Predictive functional profiling of microbial communities using 16S rRNA marker gene sequences
    2013 7.1k citations J. Gregory Caporaso, Daniel McDonald et al. Nature Biotechnology profile →
  4. Ultra-high-throughput microbial community analysis on the Illumina HiSeq and MiSeq platforms
    2012 6.7k citations J. Gregory Caporaso, Jack A. Gilbert et al. The ISME Journal profile →
  5. UniFrac: a New Phylogenetic Method for Comparing Microbial Communities
    2005 6.3k citations Catherine Lozupone, Rob Knight profile →
  6. A core gut microbiome in obese and lean twins
    2008 5.9k citations Peter J. Turnbaugh, Micah Hamady et al. profile →
  7. Linking Long-Term Dietary Patterns with Gut Microbial Enterotypes
    2011 4.7k citations Rob Knight et al. Science profile →
  8. Obesity alters gut microbial ecology
    2005 4.7k citations Ruth E. Ley, Fredrik Bäckhed et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences profile →
  9. The Human Microbiome Project
    2007 4.1k citations Peter J. Turnbaugh, Ruth E. Ley et al. profile →
  10. An improved Greengenes taxonomy with explicit ranks for ecological and evolutionary analyses of bacteria and archaea
    2011 4.0k citations Daniel McDonald, Julia K. Goodrich et al. The ISME Journal profile →
  11. Optimizing taxonomic classification of marker-gene amplicon sequences with QIIME 2’s q2-feature-classifier plugin
    2018 3.9k citations Nicholas A. Bokulich, Benjamin D. Kaehler et al. Microbiome profile →
  12. Diversity, stability and resilience of the human gut microbiota
    2012 3.9k citations Catherine Lozupone, Jeffrey I. Gordon et al. profile →
  13. Quality-filtering vastly improves diversity estimates from Illumina amplicon sequencing
    2012 3.3k citations Nicholas A. Bokulich, Jeffrey I. Gordon et al. profile →
  14. Delivery mode shapes the acquisition and structure of the initial microbiota across multiple body habitats in newborns
    2010 3.3k citations Rob Knight et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences profile →
  15. Soil bacterial and fungal communities across a pH gradient in an arable soil
    2010 3.2k citations Catherine Lozupone, J. Gregory Caporaso et al. The ISME Journal profile →
  16. Pyrosequencing-Based Assessment of Soil pH as a Predictor of Soil Bacterial Community Structure at the Continental Scale
    2009 3.1k citations Micah Hamady, Rob Knight et al. profile →
  17. PyNAST: a flexible tool for aligning sequences to a template alignment
    2009 2.9k citations J. Gregory Caporaso, Rob Knight et al. profile →
  18. Chimeric 16S rRNA sequence formation and detection in Sanger and 454-pyrosequenced PCR amplicons
    2011 2.8k citations Rob Knight et al. profile →
  19. Evolution of Mammals and Their Gut Microbes
    2008 2.7k citations Ruth E. Ley, Micah Hamady et al. Science profile →
  20. The Impact of the Gut Microbiota on Human Health: An Integrative View
    2012 2.7k citations Luke K. Ursell, Rob Knight et al. Cell profile →
  21. Gut Microbiota Regulate Motor Deficits and Neuroinflammation in a Model of Parkinson’s Disease
    2016 2.6k citations Taren Thron, Viviana Gradinaru et al. Cell profile →
  22. Bacterial Community Variation in Human Body Habitats Across Space and Time
    2009 2.4k citations Micah Hamady, Jeffrey I. Gordon et al. Science profile →
  23. The Effect of Diet on the Human Gut Microbiome: A Metagenomic Analysis in Humanized Gnotobiotic Mice
    2009 2.3k citations Peter J. Turnbaugh, Vanessa K. Ridaura et al. profile →
  24. Human Genetics Shape the Gut Microbiome
    2014 2.2k citations Julia K. Goodrich, Omry Koren et al. Cell profile →
  25. UniFrac: an effective distance metric for microbial community comparison
    2010 2.1k citations Catherine Lozupone, Rob Knight et al. The ISME Journal profile →
  26. Quantitative and Qualitative β Diversity Measures Lead to Different Insights into Factors That Structure Microbial Communities
    2007 2.0k citations Catherine Lozupone, Micah Hamady et al. profile →
  27. Succession of microbial consortia in the developing infant gut microbiome
    2010 1.8k citations Aymé Spor, Rob Knight et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences profile →
  28. Current understanding of the human microbiome
    2018 1.6k citations Jack A. Gilbert, J. Gregory Caporaso et al. profile →
  29. Metabolic Syndrome and Altered Gut Microbiota in Mice Lacking Toll-Like Receptor 5
    2010 1.6k citations Tyler C. Cullender, Rob Knight et al. Science profile →
  30. Improved Bacterial 16S rRNA Gene (V4 and V4-5) and Fungal Internal Transcribed Spacer Marker Gene Primers for Microbial Community Surveys
    2015 1.6k citations Gail Ackermann, Greg Humphrey et al. mSystems profile →
  31. Host Remodeling of the Gut Microbiome and Metabolic Changes during Pregnancy
    2012 1.5k citations Omry Koren, Julia K. Goodrich et al. Cell profile →
  32. The Long-Term Stability of the Human Gut Microbiota
    2013 1.5k citations Henning Seedorf, Rob Knight et al. Science profile →
  33. Diet Drives Convergence in Gut Microbiome Functions Across Mammalian Phylogeny and Within Humans
    2011 1.4k citations Antonio González, Bernard Henrissat et al. Science profile →
  34. Analysis of composition of microbiomes: a novel method for studying microbial composition
    2015 1.4k citations Rob Knight et al. profile →
  35. Comparative metagenomic, phylogenetic and physiological analyses of soil microbial communities across nitrogen gradients
    2011 1.4k citations Rob Knight et al. The ISME Journal profile →
  36. Normalization and microbial differential abundance strategies depend upon data characteristics
    2017 1.3k citations Antonio González, Catherine Lozupone et al. Microbiome profile →
  37. Global patterns in bacterial diversity
    2007 1.3k citations Catherine Lozupone, Rob Knight Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences profile →
  38. Deblur Rapidly Resolves Single-Nucleotide Community Sequence Patterns
    2017 1.3k citations Daniel McDonald, Rob Knight et al. mSystems profile →
  39. Bayesian community-wide culture-independent microbial source tracking
    2011 1.3k citations Rob Knight et al. profile →
  40. UniFrac – An online tool for comparing microbial community diversity in a phylogenetic context
    2006 1.3k citations Catherine Lozupone, Micah Hamady et al. profile →
  41. High-Fat Diet Determines the Composition of the Murine Gut Microbiome Independently of Obesity
    2009 1.2k citations Micah Hamady, Rob Knight et al. profile →
  42. Worlds within worlds: evolution of the vertebrate gut microbiota
    2008 1.2k citations Ruth E. Ley, Catherine Lozupone et al. profile →
  43. The gut–liver axis and the intersection with the microbiome
    2018 1.0k citations Rob Knight et al. profile →
  44. Species-level functional profiling of metagenomes and metatranscriptomes
    2018 1.0k citations Rob Knight, J. Gregory Caporaso et al. profile →
  45. Error-correcting barcoded primers for pyrosequencing hundreds of samples in multiplex
    2008 1.0k citations Micah Hamady, Rob Knight et al. profile →
  46. Examining the global distribution of dominant archaeal populations in soil
    2010 1.0k citations J. Gregory Caporaso, Rob Knight et al. The ISME Journal profile →
  47. Bacterial phylogeny structures soil resistomes across habitats
    2014 979 citations Rob Knight et al. profile →
  48. A comprehensive survey of soil acidobacterial diversity using pyrosequencing and clone library analyses
    2009 959 citations Micah Hamady, Rob Knight et al. The ISME Journal profile →
  49. EMPeror: a tool for visualizing high-throughput microbial community data
    2013 957 citations Rob Knight et al. profile →
  50. Fast UniFrac: facilitating high-throughput phylogenetic analyses of microbial communities including analysis of pyrosequencing and PhyloChip data
    2009 928 citations Micah Hamady, Catherine Lozupone et al. The ISME Journal profile →
  51. Human oral, gut, and plaque microbiota in patients with atherosclerosis
    2010 898 citations Omry Koren, Aymé Spor et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences profile →
  52. The influence of sex, handedness, and washing on the diversity of hand surface bacteria
    2008 858 citations Micah Hamady, Rob Knight et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences profile →
  53. Moving pictures of the human microbiome
    2011 846 citations J. Gregory Caporaso, Jeffrey I. Gordon et al. profile →
  54. Dynamics of the human gut microbiome in inflammatory bowel disease
    2017 839 citations Daniel McDonald, Antonio González et al. Nature Microbiology profile →
  55. The microbiome and human cancer
    2021 834 citations Rob Knight et al. Science profile →
  56. Defining the human microbiome
    2012 827 citations Luke K. Ursell, Rob Knight et al. profile →
  57. Gut Microbiomes of Malawian Twin Pairs Discordant for Kwashiorkor
    2013 826 citations Michelle I. Smith, Jiye Cheng et al. Science profile →
  58. Strains, functions and dynamics in the expanded Human Microbiome Project
    2017 804 citations Daniel McDonald, Rob Knight et al. profile →
  59. GABA-modulating bacteria of the human gut microbiota
    2018 794 citations Philip Strandwitz, Ki Hyun Kim et al. Nature Microbiology profile →
  60. Defining seasonal marine microbial community dynamics
    2011 791 citations Jack A. Gilbert, J. Gregory Caporaso et al. The ISME Journal profile →
  61. Cohabiting family members share microbiota with one another and with their dogs
    2013 760 citations Catherine Lozupone, Gregory Humphrey et al. eLife profile →
  62. Microbial community profiling for human microbiome projects: Tools, techniques, and challenges
    2009 735 citations Micah Hamady, Rob Knight profile →
  63. Environmental and ecological factors that shape the gut bacterial communities of fish: a meta‐analysis
    2012 734 citations Catherine Lozupone, Rob Knight et al. profile →
  64. Gut bacteria from multiple sclerosis patients modulate human T cells and exacerbate symptoms in mouse models
    2017 730 citations Rob Knight, Sarkis K. Mazmanian et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences profile →
  65. Genetic Determinants of the Gut Microbiome in UK Twins
    2016 718 citations Julia K. Goodrich, Rob Knight et al. profile →
  66. Gut Microbes and the Brain: Paradigm Shift in Neuroscience
    2014 695 citations Emeran A. Mayer, Rob Knight et al. Journal of Neuroscience profile →
  67. Microbiota Regulate Intestinal Absorption and Metabolism of Fatty Acids in the Zebrafish
    2012 674 citations Rob Knight et al. profile →
  68. Parkinson's disease and Parkinson's disease medications have distinct signatures of the gut microbiome
    2017 653 citations Rob Knight et al. profile →
  69. Partial restoration of the microbiota of cesarean-born infants via vaginal microbial transfer
    2016 649 citations Nicholas A. Bokulich, Rob Knight et al. profile →
  70. Meta‐analyses of human gut microbes associated with obesity and IBD
    2014 646 citations Rob Knight et al. profile →
  71. Contamination in Low Microbial Biomass Microbiome Studies: Issues and Recommendations
    2018 643 citations Rob Knight et al. profile →
  72. Longitudinal analysis of microbial interaction between humans and the indoor environment
    2014 633 citations Nicole M. Scott, Luke K. Ursell et al. Science profile →
  73. The Biological Observation Matrix (BIOM) format or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the ome-ome
    2012 590 citations Daniel McDonald, Jai Ram Rideout et al. profile →
  74. Using QIIME to Analyze 16S rRNA Gene Sequences from Microbial Communities
    2011 586 citations Antonio González, J. Gregory Caporaso et al. profile →
  75. Seasonal cycling in the gut microbiome of the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania
    2017 567 citations Rob Knight et al. Science profile →
  76. The under-recognized dominance of Verrucomicrobia in soil bacterial communities
    2011 560 citations J. Gregory Caporaso, Rob Knight et al. profile →
  77. Short pyrosequencing reads suffice for accurate microbial community analysis
    2007 551 citations Catherine Lozupone, Micah Hamady et al. profile →
  78. The Earth Microbiome project: successes and aspirations
    2014 548 citations Jack A. Gilbert, Janet Jansson et al. profile →
  79. Correlation detection strategies in microbial data sets vary widely in sensitivity and precision
    2016 542 citations Catherine Lozupone, Karoline Faust et al. The ISME Journal profile →
  80. Identifying Genetic Determinants Needed to Establish a Human Gut Symbiont in Its Habitat
    2009 534 citations Catherine Lozupone, Rob Knight et al. profile →
  81. Microbiota and Host Nutrition across Plant and Animal Kingdoms
    2015 509 citations Gail Ackermann, Rob Knight et al. profile →
  82. The ecology of the phyllosphere: geographic and phylogenetic variability in the distribution of bacteria on tree leaves
    2010 496 citations Rob Knight et al. profile →
  83. Reconstructing the Microbial Diversity and Function of Pre-Agricultural Tallgrass Prairie Soils in the United States
    2013 400 citations Rob Knight, Jack A. Gilbert et al. Science profile →
  84. Subsistence strategies in traditional societies distinguish gut microbiomes
    2015 353 citations Luke K. Ursell, Rob Knight et al. Nature Communications profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

Peers by citation overlap · career bar shows stage (early→late) cites · hero ref

Name h Career Trend Papers Cites
Rob Knight United States 194 133.6k 49.5k 32.9k 24.7k 20.4k 898 227.5k
Mark A. Bradford United States 72 109.9k 0.8× 21.1k 0.4× 15.3k 0.5× 3.6k 0.1× 57.1k 2.8× 229 239.7k
Steven L. Salzberg United States 96 110.2k 0.8× 20.8k 0.4× 4.8k 0.1× 7.0k 0.3× 46.6k 2.3× 244 185.4k
Jeffrey I. Gordon United States 150 103.2k 0.8× 9.3k 0.2× 32.8k 1.0× 20.8k 0.8× 5.1k 0.3× 491 146.9k
Peer Bork Germany 151 97.1k 0.7× 15.9k 0.3× 5.5k 0.2× 7.4k 0.3× 18.8k 0.9× 524 145.9k
R. C. Edgar United States 32 41.7k 0.3× 25.3k 0.5× 2.5k 0.1× 5.4k 0.2× 21.7k 1.1× 50 89.7k
Ruth E. Ley United States 71 51.4k 0.4× 6.0k 0.1× 19.9k 0.6× 11.3k 0.5× 5.4k 0.3× 150 74.2k
Willem M. de Vos Netherlands 157 68.4k 0.5× 7.5k 0.2× 15.0k 0.5× 15.3k 0.6× 3.7k 0.2× 884 98.8k
A. Farr United States 7 143.2k 1.1× 8.1k 0.2× 30.9k 0.9× 3.9k 0.2× 33.7k 1.7× 7 295.7k
Kenneth J. Livak United States 42 95.0k 0.7× 7.8k 0.2× 10.8k 0.3× 6.6k 0.3× 44.4k 2.2× 95 199.5k
Philip Hugenholtz Australia 105 40.2k 0.3× 31.2k 0.6× 2.6k 0.1× 5.0k 0.2× 8.7k 0.4× 416 77.7k

Countries citing papers authored by Rob Knight

Since Specialization
Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Rob Knight's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by Rob Knight with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Rob Knight more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Rob Knight

Since Specialization
Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Rob Knight. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by Rob Knight. The network helps show where Rob Knight may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of Rob Knight

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of Rob Knight. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of Rob Knight based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with Rob Knight. Rob Knight is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

20 of 20 papers shown
1.
Zuffa, Simone, et al.. (2025). Human Untargeted Metabolomics in High-Throughput Gut Microbiome Research: Ethanol vs Methanol. Analytical Chemistry. 97(9). 4945–4953.
2.
Dokoshi, Tatsuya, Kellen Cavagnero, Gibraan Rahman, et al.. (2024). Dermal injury drives a skin to gut axis that disrupts the intestinal microbiome and intestinal immune homeostasis in mice. Nature Communications. 15(1). 3009–3009. 34 indexed citations
3.
Karu, Naama, Teemu Kallonen, Anna‐Katariina Aatsinki, et al.. (2024). Comparative Metabolomics and Microbiome Analysis of Ethanol versus OMNImet/gene•GUT Fecal Stabilization. Analytical Chemistry. 96(22). 8893–8904. 5 indexed citations
4.
Mohanty, Ipsita, MacKenzie Bryant, Pieter C. Dorrestein, et al.. (2024). Impact of diet change on the gut microbiome of common marmosets ( Callithrix jacchus ). mSystems. 9(8). e0010824–e0010824. 4 indexed citations
5.
Palmu, Joonatan, Christin S. Börschel, Alfredo Ortega‐Alonso, et al.. (2023). Gut microbiome and atrial fibrillation—results from a large population-based study. EBioMedicine. 91. 104583–104583. 37 indexed citations
6.
Pendergraft, Matthew A., Pedro Belda‐Ferre, Daniel Petras, et al.. (2023). Bacterial and Chemical Evidence of Coastal Water Pollution from the Tijuana River in Sea Spray Aerosol. Environmental Science & Technology. 57(10). 4071–4081. 33 indexed citations
7.
Balaban, Metin, Yueyu Jiang, Qiyun Zhu, et al.. (2023). Generation of accurate, expandable phylogenomic trees with uDance. Nature Biotechnology. 42(5). 768–777. 9 indexed citations
8.
Abdel-Haq, Reem, Johannes C. M. Schlachetzki, Joseph C. Boktor, et al.. (2022). A prebiotic diet modulates microglial states and motor deficits in α-synuclein overexpressing mice. eLife. 11. 57 indexed citations
9.
Labarta-Bajo, Lara, Romana R. Gerner, Katelynn R. Kazane, et al.. (2020). CD8 T cells drive anorexia, dysbiosis, and blooms of a commensal with immunosuppressive potential after viral infection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 117(40). 24998–25007. 16 indexed citations
10.
Strandwitz, Philip, Ki Hyun Kim, Darya Terekhova, et al.. (2018). GABA-modulating bacteria of the human gut microbiota. Nature Microbiology. 4(3). 396–403. 794 indexed citations breakdown →
11.
Bokulich, Nicholas A., Benjamin D. Kaehler, Jai Ram Rideout, et al.. (2018). Optimizing taxonomic classification of marker-gene amplicon sequences with QIIME 2’s q2-feature-classifier plugin. Microbiome. 6(1). 90–90. 3938 indexed citations breakdown →
12.
Faust, Karoline, Gipsi Lima‐Mendez, J. Fah Sathirapongsasuti, et al.. (2015). Cross-biome comparison of microbial association networks. Frontiers in Microbiology. 6. 1200–1200. 139 indexed citations
13.
Bouslimani, Amina, Carla Porto, Christopher M. Rath, et al.. (2015). Molecular cartography of the human skin surface in 3D. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112(17). E2120–9. 260 indexed citations
14.
Mayer, Emeran A., Rob Knight, Sarkis K. Mazmanian, John F. Cryan, & Kirsten Tillisch. (2014). Gut Microbes and the Brain: Paradigm Shift in Neuroscience. Journal of Neuroscience. 34(46). 15490–15496. 695 indexed citations breakdown →
15.
Mason, Olivia U., Nicole M. Scott, Antonio González, et al.. (2014). Metagenomics reveals sediment microbial community response to Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The ISME Journal. 8(7). 1464–1475. 273 indexed citations
16.
Seedorf, Henning, Nicholas W. Griffin, Vanessa K. Ridaura, et al.. (2014). Bacteria from Diverse Habitats Colonize and Compete in the Mouse Gut. Cell. 159(2). 253–266. 286 indexed citations
17.
Koren, Omry, Julia K. Goodrich, Tyler C. Cullender, et al.. (2012). Host Remodeling of the Gut Microbiome and Metabolic Changes during Pregnancy. Cell. 150(3). 470–480. 1514 indexed citations breakdown →
18.
Ley, Ruth E., Micah Hamady, Catherine Lozupone, et al.. (2008). Evolution of Mammals and Their Gut Microbes. Science. 320(5883). 1647–1651. 2726 indexed citations breakdown →
19.
Warren, Michael D. & Rob Knight. (1982). Mortality in relation to the functional capacities of people with disabilities living at home.. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. 36(3). 220–223. 53 indexed citations
20.
Knight, Rob. (1980). Feeding for milk quality.. Canadian parliamentary review. 193–211. 2 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

Explore authors with similar magnitude of impact

Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Mark A. Bradford Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Steven L. Salzberg Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Jeffrey I. Gordon Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Peer Bork Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by R. C. Edgar Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Ruth E. Ley Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Willem M. de Vos Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by A. Farr Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Kenneth J. Livak Breakdown of academic impact, for papers by Philip Hugenholtz
Rankless by CCL
2026