Cutting-edge approaches to understand how gut microbes promote our health
Lead Research Organisation:
University of East Anglia
Department Name: Graduate Office
Abstract
Bifidobacteria has been highlighted as a protective agent against a number of health conditions, ranging from pathogen infection to Crohn's disease and asthma. Evidence suggests that Bifidobacteria can directly affect host processes in the gut. One such process is autophagy, a cellular degradation mechanism, known to be important for intestinal homeostasis (Nobel Prize 2016). However, we do not know the details how exactly Bifidobacteria can modulate autophagy. Studying these cross-kingdom connections will help us to understand the mechanims behind gut health benefits of commensal bacteria. To explore such a complex interplay novel approaches should be used, like systems biology, which has revolutionized our way of thinking about biological systems and allowed the identification of essential molecules at the systems-level.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Conrad Nieduszynski (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Martina Poletti (Student) |
Publications
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
Poletti M
(2021)
Organoid-based Models to Study the Role of Host-microbiota Interactions in IBD
in Journal of Crohn's and Colitis
Treveil A
(2021)
ViralLink: An integrated workflow to investigate the effect of SARS-CoV-2 on intracellular signalling and regulatory pathways
in PLOS Computational Biology
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BB/M011216/1 | 01/10/2015 | 31/03/2024 | |||
| 2116512 | Studentship | BB/M011216/1 | 01/10/2018 | 30/11/2022 | Martina Poletti |
| Description | The main achievements of this award so far are the following: - establishment of human organoid platform for host-microbe interaction studies - successful establishment of protocols to investigate autophagy in human organoids using fluorescence microscopy and image analysis pipelines - generation of RNAseq dataset from organoids exposed to bifidobacterial metabolites to investigate the impact of this microbe on epithelial cell function, in particular autophagy |
| Exploitation Route | Further studies may start from the acheivements of this funding to set-up more complete host-microbe study by introducing human organoids and bifidobacteria into a gut-on-chip platform to better mimic the in vivo situation. Furthermore, further microbial strains could be tested for their beneficial effect on epithelial cell function using the methods and platforms established during this funding period. |
| Sectors | Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Description | Assessing the effect of bifidobacteria on intestinal epithelial cells using the Caco-2 cell model within the microfluidics device HuMiX |
| Organisation | University of Luxembourg |
| Department | Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine |
| Country | Luxembourg |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We carried out preliminary tests in the lab and produced prelinary data which would be analysed by the partner university. |
| Collaborator Contribution | They contributed with expertise on host-microbe studies, their analysis of the data produced by us and with the final set-up and device for the the experiment. |
| Impact | - Assessed the effect of two bifidobacterial strains on Caco-2 cell inflammation by ELISA - Assessed the effect on of two bifidobacterial strains on Caco-2 cell autophagy by confocal imaging |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Establishment and analysis of epithelial populations in human-derived organoids |
| Organisation | Catholic University of Louvain |
| Department | Translational Research Center for Gastrointestinal Disorders (TARGID) |
| Country | Belgium |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Provided with knowledge and training about techniques to quantify epithelial cell populations in human-derived organoids |
| Collaborator Contribution | Provided in person training on techniques about the establishment human-derived organoids and organoid derived monolayers |
| Impact | - Established protocols to culture human organoid-derived monolayers - Established protocols to analyse different epithelial cell types in intestinal organoids |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Growing mouse and human intestinal organoids |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Department | Faculty of Medicine |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | - Organised recurrent meeetings to update each other on the technical aspects of growing mouse and human organoids - Provided with knowledge about best practises to establish apical out and organoid monolayers |
| Collaborator Contribution | Collaborators provided with knowledge about best practises to work with 3D organoids and also provided frozen vials of organoids from healthy and IBD patients to use for our experiments. |
| Impact | - Exchange of frozen human organoids stocks - Recurrent meetings to exchange information about best practises - Planning of joint projects once the model will be set-up |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Growing mouse and human intestinal organoids |
| Organisation | King's College London |
| Department | Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | - Organised recurrent meeetings to update each other on the technical aspects of growing mouse and human organoids - Provided with knowledge about best practises to establish apical out and organoid monolayers |
| Collaborator Contribution | Collaborators provided with knowledge about best practises to work with 3D organoids and also provided frozen vials of organoids from healthy and IBD patients to use for our experiments. |
| Impact | - Exchange of frozen human organoids stocks - Recurrent meetings to exchange information about best practises - Planning of joint projects once the model will be set-up |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Conference Oral Presentation at Cell Symposia: Engineering Organoids and Organs (USA) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Oral presentation about my PhD project at the international conference 'Cell Symposia: Engineering Organoids and Organs' in the USA, which increased visibility of our research at an international level. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Oral talk: 'Bacteria in the gut: the good and the bad in you' - Norwich Science Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Oral talk as part of the Norwich Science Festival, whose goal was to explain topics such as probiotic and gut health to the general public. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | PhD project presentation at UEA Pharmacology Course students |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I did a 15 minute presentation about my PhD project to Pharmacology undergraduate students during one of their class. My presentation made them more interested in pursuing a career in research after their studies and made them more familiar with advanced topic and applications in the field. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Poster Presentation at 'Cell Symposia: Engineering Organoids and Organs' (USA) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Poster presentation about my PhD project, whose main outcome was to gain visibility about my PhD project and research group internationally. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Poster Presentation at 'Multiomics to Mechanisms - Challenges in Data Integration' conference (EMBL) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Poster presentation to showcase my PhD project, which parked questions and interest about my research area and highlighted new problems/ways to move forward. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Poster Presentation at the 15th Congress of European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Poster presentation to showcase my PhD, which resulted in further questions and interest about my research and highlighted new ways to move forward with my project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |