How our other genome - the microbiome - keeps us healthy (KORCSMAROS_E17ICASE)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of East Anglia
Department Name: Graduate Office
Abstract
How our other genome - the microbiome - keeps us healthy: understanding a long friendship using a combination of computational and experimental approaches.
Systems biology has revolutionized our way of thinking about biological systems. It has furthered our understanding of how various cellular processes contribute to health and if dysregulated lead to diseases. Interestingly, shifts in microbial composition are usually observed in diseased states and phenotypes. This throws open a number of questions such as the function(s) of the microbiome in maintaining health and homeostasis. Besides, the role of the microbiota in determining the final outcome of the interactions between environmental stressors and host responses is unclear. Thus, better understanding the beneficial effect of the commensal microbiota on host processes promoting homeostasis could help minimize the deleterious side-effects of products and thereby help in the formulation of safe and functional applications.
Systems biology has revolutionized our way of thinking about biological systems. It has furthered our understanding of how various cellular processes contribute to health and if dysregulated lead to diseases. Interestingly, shifts in microbial composition are usually observed in diseased states and phenotypes. This throws open a number of questions such as the function(s) of the microbiome in maintaining health and homeostasis. Besides, the role of the microbiota in determining the final outcome of the interactions between environmental stressors and host responses is unclear. Thus, better understanding the beneficial effect of the commensal microbiota on host processes promoting homeostasis could help minimize the deleterious side-effects of products and thereby help in the formulation of safe and functional applications.
People |
ORCID iD |
Tamas Korcsmaros (Primary Supervisor) | |
Lejla Potari-Gul (Student) |
Publications
Türei D
(2021)
Integrated intra- and intercellular signaling knowledge for multicellular omics analysis.
in Molecular systems biology
Olbei M
(2021)
SARS-CoV-2 Causes a Different Cytokine Response Compared to Other Cytokine Storm-Causing Respiratory Viruses in Severely Ill Patients
in Frontiers in Immunology
Csabai L
(2022)
SignaLink3: a multi-layered resource to uncover tissue-specific signaling networks.
in Nucleic acids research
Studentship Projects
Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
BB/M011216/1 | 30/09/2015 | 31/03/2024 | |||
1940961 | Studentship | BB/M011216/1 | 30/09/2017 | 30/03/2022 | Lejla Potari-Gul |
Description | - During the first two and a half years of the PhD project I set up the workflow to infer host-microbe protein-protein interaction network based on microbial community data - We have found that there are differences regarding the human targets in healthy and diseased conditions (gingivitis in the oral cavity and dandruff on scalp) - I have created a semi-automated pipeline which requires the list of proteins from the microbiome and give back the potential human protein targets. |
Exploitation Route | As a result, a semi-authomated pipelin will be carried out for analysing the effect of the human microbiome (based on meta-data) on the host signalling pathways. The workflow will help to highlight the key differences in the signalling between healthy and diseased conditions. Because it is an iCASE project, the industrial partner (Unilever company) will use the workflow for creating their products. |
Sectors | Healthcare |
Description | Collaboration with Unilever (ICASE PhD project) |
Organisation | Unilever |
Department | Unilever Research and Development |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | In this collaborative project, I have been developing a semi-authomated pipeline to predict the effect of the human microbiome on the host signalisation in oral cavity. Unilever will use the outcome in their researches and products. |
Collaborator Contribution | Unilever provided 3 months internship to work in an industrial environment and gain insight into their research. |
Impact | The current outcome of the collaboration (due to the lack of the meta- and host response data) is a host-microbe interaction network describing the potential human protein targets by the microbiome in the healthy and diseased oral cavity. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | EI Innovate Linking Datasets to Bioscience - Engagement with industry |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | I presented my PhD project to ~40 people participating in the event. As an outcome, I got questions from the public which helped me to think about the future improvements and directions of the project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Scientific Advisory Board Meeting (poster + talk) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Supporters |
Results and Impact | I gave a talk about my PhD to ~50 people including members of the Scientific Advisory Board which is an independent body that advises the Institute's Senior Management team and Trustee Directors on the strategic relevance, balance and quality of the research programme at the Institute. I got important feedbacks which improved my project. I also presented a scientific poster about the research which gave a possibility to have one to one discussions with people who attended the meeting. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Talk at European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation conference (ECCO) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | I presented my project in 5 minutes to hundreds of clinicians and researchers included in the field of intestinal bowel disease research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.ecco-ibd.eu/ecco22.html |