New Paper: Divergent maturational patterns of the infant bacterial and fungal gut microbiome in the first year of life are associated with inter-kingdom community dynamics and infant nutrition

Congratulations to our Platform 2 Co-Lead Dr. Marie-Claire Arrieta on this recent publication! Abstract Background The gut microbiome undergoes primary ecological succession over the course of early life before achieving ecosystem stability around 3 years of age. These maturational patterns have been well-characterized for bacteria, but limited descriptions exist for other microbiota members, such as fungi. […]

New Paper: Maternal smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of gut microbiome-associated childhood overweight and obesity

Congratulations to our Platform 2 Lead Dr. Anita Kozyrskyj on this recent publication! Abstract Childhood obesity is linked to maternal smoking during pregnancy. Gut microbiota may partially mediate this association and could be potential targets for intervention; however, its role is understudied. We included 1,592 infants from the Canadian Healthy Infants Longitudinal Development Cohort. Data […]

New Paper: Longitudinal assessment of bacterial vaginosis prior to and during incident pregnancy: an observational study in Kenyan adolescent girls and young women

Congratulations to our Platform 4 Lead Dr. Laura Sycuro on this recent publication! Abstract Objective: To determine bacterial vaginosis (BV) status at multiple time points among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and assess the impact of pregnancy on their BV status. Design: Longitudinal cohort study. Setting: Thika, Kenya. Participants: AGYW aged 16–20 years enrolled prior to first […]

New Paper: Long-term and trimester-specific effects of prenatal stress on the child gut microbiota

Congratulations to our Platform 2 Co-Lead Dr. Marie-Claire Arrieta on this recent publication! Abstract ObjectiveStress is common among pregnant individuals and is associated with an altered gut microbiota composition in infants. It is unknown if these compositional changes persist into the preschool years when the gut microbiota reaches an adult-like composition. This study aimed to […]

New Paper: Delayed gut microbiota maturation in the first year of life is a hallmark of pediatric allergic disease

Congratulations to our Platform 2 Lead Dr. Anita Kozyrskyj on this recent publication! Abstract Allergic diseases affect millions of people worldwide. An increase in their prevalence has been associated with alterations in the gut microbiome, i.e., the microorganisms and their genes within the gastrointestinal tract. Maturation of the infant immune system and gut microbiota occur […]

New Paper: Questioning the fetal microbiome illustrates pitfalls of low-biomass microbial studies

Congratulations to our Platform 2 Co-Lead Dr. Marie-Claire Arrieta on this recent publication! Abstract Whether the human fetus and the prenatal intrauterine environment (amniotic fluid and placenta) are stably colonized by microbial communities in a healthy pregnancy remains a subject of debate. Here we evaluate recent studies that characterized microbial populations in human fetuses from […]