Supporting innovative research into the human microbiome

Vasiliki Koliaraki at the Alexander Fleming Biomedical Sciences Research Center in Vari, Greece, and co-workers will use their Global Grant for Gut Health to examine whether age-related changes to gut microbiota modulate the activity of host tissue cells called fibroblasts, and provide an optimal microenvironment for cancerous tumours to take hold.

Sean Gibbons at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, US, and co-workers will use their Global Grant for Gut Health to explore the unique gut microbial compositional signatures, gut microbial functional gene signatures, and associated blood metabolites in healthy elderly people.

Paul O’Toole, molecular microbiologist at University College Cork, Ireland, and co-workers will use their Global Grant for Gut Health to examine how gut microbes may influence neuroinflammation and decline in cognitive functioning in the elderly.

How does the gut microbiome affect the availability of two key dietary nutrients? And what are the effects on the growth patterns of malnourished children? These are questions that Bryan Gonzales, along with Martin Mwangi and colleagues in Malawi, will explore with support from a Global Grant for Gut Health (GGGH).

Lawrence David, Sylvia Becker-Dreps, Teresa McDonald and colleagues, together with Filemon Bucardo and Samuel Vilchez in Nicaragua, will use their Global Grant for Gut Health to measure the diversity of plant-based foods consumed by infants in Nicaragua, and how this modulates the maturation of the gut microbiome and overall child health.

In 2020, Robert Quinn, Pieter Dorrestein and colleagues made a major breakthrough in our understanding of the gut microbiome and bile acid chemistry: they discovered that gut microbes can conjugate a variety of amino acids to bile acids, generating a diverse set of molecules that had never before been described. Quinn will use his Global Grant for Gut Health to further examine how microbially-conjugated bile acids (MCBAs) are generated and how they affect the body.

We warmly congratulate the three 2020 recipients of the Global Grants for Gut Health, which support studies seeking to elucidate unexplored host–microbe communication pathways and develop new strategies for preventing metabolic diseases and functional gastrointestinal disorders.

Guido Hooiveld’s proof-of-concept study, examining how the small-intestine microbiota influences different blood glucose responses when people eat the same foods, will be enabled by his Global Grant for Gut Health.

Marco Jost will use small-intestine organoids and his expertise in RNA sequencing and CRISPR technologies to study host–microbiome molecular communication. He will examine how these interactions might influence the physiology of other organs.

With his Global Grant for Gut Health, Purna Kashyap plans to create the first humanized mouse model of the small intestine to determine its role in modulating intestinal physiology and influencing gastrointestinal disease symptoms.

Introducing the projects that aim to elucidate the role of protists in food sensitivity, identify novel bioactives to prevent or reduce inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and look for antibody–antigen interactions in microbiome-related diseases.

Computational biologist Eran Segal will use his Global Grant for Gut Health to examine how the microbiome and immune system interact, and how it can go awry.

Biochemist and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) specialist, Jakob Begun, will use his Global Grant for Gut Health to explore how microbial power could limit IBD progression.

Immunologist Reinhard Hinterleitner will use his Global Grant for Gut Health to examine whether certain microbes, known as protists, have a protective role in food sensitivities.

We’re proud to present two highly competitive projects that investigate long-term evolution in the gut microbiome and drug-microbiome interactions.

Adding to research focused on the overall composition of the gut microbiome, biologist Isabel Gordo will use her Global Grant for Gut Health to explore the evolutionary path of one common gut bacterium, Escherichia coli, inside living animals.

After many years studying the gastrointestinal tract, pharmacologist and senior physiology lecturer Niall Hyland will use his Global Grant for Gut Health to examine how the microbiome influences the ability to metabolise anti-depressant or anti-psychotic drugs.