A human intervention study using Human Milk Oligosaccharides to improve Irritable Bowel Syndromesymptoms through targeting of the gut microbiota

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is the most common gastrointestinal disorder in the UK and a major public health/economic concern. It is associated with a range of mental and physical symptoms and discomforts, however despite extensive research, the psychological and physiological factors that contribute to the aetiology of IBS remain poorly understood.

The human gut is inhabited by trillions of commensal bacteria that are known to impact on human health and disease. Prebiotic and probiotic supplementations have been shown to be effective in improving mental health, gut issues and quality of life in IBS, which demonstrate the impact of gut microbiota targeted dietary interventions in improving health outcomes. Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs) are complex carbohydrates found in human breast milk that specifically stimulate bifidobacteria (a health positive genus). Given their health promoting potential, HMOs are of growing interest to the research community particularly in adult-onset conditions such as IBS, where other therapeutic approaches have been variable. We have conducted recent research showing that HMOs are highly efficacious prebiotics, and we hypothesise that dietary interventions such as HMOs have the potential to improve symptoms in IBS patients.
This PhD project entails a cross-disciplinary approach to better understand the impact of HMO intervention in IBS patients. It will involve both in vitro and in vivo approaches to assess the influence of the dietary intervention on the gut microbiota, and subsequent impact on human health. It will apply cutting edge technologies (metabolic and microbial profiling) followed by multivariate statistical analysis to characterise the change in microbial and metabolic profile following HMO intervention, and improve knowledge of microbes as well as biomarkers/molecular pathways involved in changes to health status.