Heavy Metal Facts

Divine Aleru is a researcher at Heavy Metal Facts, contributing expertise in environmental contaminant pathways, microbiome science, regulatory standards analysis, and mitigation strategies for heavy metals across food, water, and environmental matrices. She serves as a Microbiome Signatures and Interventions Research Coordinator at Microbiome Signatures, where her work bridges computational microbiome analysis with translational toxicology.

Background

Divine holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria (2017–2023), where she developed foundational expertise in environmental biochemistry and toxicology. During her studies, she served as a laboratory assistant at Rivers State University and was an active member of the Nigerian Society of Biochemistry Students (2018–2023).

She is currently pursuing further studies at the University of Chester in the United Kingdom.

Microbiome Research & Data Curation

Divine's career in microbiome research began with the Bioconductor open-source bioinformatics project, where she served as a Microbiome Study Curator for the BugSigDB database (2024–2025). In this role, she curated published microbiome studies, analyzed microbial signatures associated with specific diseases and health outcomes, and contributed to the standardization of microbiome data using ontologies and NCBI taxonomy. She subsequently participated as an Outreachy intern at Bioconductor (December 2024–March 2025) and returned as an Outreachy co-mentor (June–August 2025), guiding the next cohort of open-source contributors.

Since March 2025, she has served as Microbiome Signatures and Interventions Research Coordinator at Microbiome Signatures, where she focuses on validating microbiome-targeted interventions (MBTIs) and analyzing microbial signature data to inform clinical and regulatory frameworks.

Research at the Paleo Foundation & Heavy Metal Facts

At the Paleo Foundation, Divine contributes as a Microbial Metallomics Researcher, working at the intersection of microbiome science and trace metal toxicology. Her work at Heavy Metal Facts focuses on translating complex contaminant science into evidence-based reporting, with particular attention to environmental contaminant pathways, heavy metal exposure vectors in food systems, and the development of regulatory standards for toxic metals.

She is a co-author on the Microbiome Signature of Endometriosis alongside Karen Pendergrass, George Aristotelous, and Kimberly Eyer.

Research Interests

Divine's research interests span the intersection of microbiome science and environmental toxicology:

Microbiome signatures and disease-associated microbial patterns
Microbiome-targeted interventions (MBTIs) and their validation
Environmental contaminant pathways for heavy metals in food and water
Microbial metallomics and metal-microbe interactions
Computational microbiome analysis and data curation
Regulatory standards for toxic metals in consumer products
Reproductive health and the microbiome (endometriosis, PCOS, VVC)

Selected Publications

Aleru, D. & Pendergrass, K. "STOP: Routine Consumption of Hibiscus Tea/Juice and Its Potential Impact on Female Fertility." Microbiome Signatures, 2025.
Aleru, D. "Validation of Probiotics as a Microbiome-Targeted Intervention for Pelvic Inflammatory Disease." Microbiome Signatures, 2025.
Aleru, D. "Probiotics as Microbiome-Targeted Intervention for Vulvovaginal Candidiasis (VVC)." Microbiome Signatures, 2025.
Aleru, D. "Validation of Statin Therapy as a Microbiome-Targeted Intervention for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)." Microbiome Signatures, 2025.
Pendergrass, K., Aristotelous, G., Aleru, D. & Eyer, K. "Microbiome Signature of Endometriosis." Microbiome Medicine, 2025.

Open-Source Contributions