Project Details
Projekt
P2: Ecology and function of synthetic bacterial communities to understand and modulate IBD-associated microbiomes
Subject Area
Microbial Ecology and Applied Microbiology
Term
since 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 426660215
Modulating the gut microbiome of patients affected by Inflammatory bowel diseases to restore healthy microbial signatures holds promise to improving health. Rationally-designed bacterial synthetic communities (SynComs) are ideal tools to experimentally study microbiome ecology and function, but also represent promising forms of microbiome-based interventions. Yet, the use of SynComs in the context of IBD to understand microbiome responses to inflammation or to test for interventions has been limited in the field. In this project, we aim to design, assemble and investigate the ecology and function of various gut bacterial SynComs. For this, we will make use of cutting-edge continuous-flow bioreactors that mimic physicochemical conditions of the (healthy or IBD) colonic environment. We will particularly predict and experimentally test for the effect of exposure to oxygenic stress, which occurs during intestinal inflammation, on the structure and metabolome of healthy- and IBD-representative SynComs. We will then use selected candidate SynComs to intervene on cultured complete microbiomes derived from healthy and IBD patients, to modulate community compositions and metabolomes. As a long-term perspective, we envision for this work to establish a pipeline for the building of alternative, rationally designed microbiota-based intervention strategies that aim at restoring dysbiotic microbiomes.
DFG Programme
Research Units
