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IMPACTT Newsletter | November 2022
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Welcome to our November 2022 IMPACTT newsletter! Keep reading for news, events, and publications in the microbiome world.
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IMPACTT Mentorship Program
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Applications open on Dec 1, 2022 for our IMPACTT Mentorship Program! This program is designed for senior postdoctoral researchers (at least 3 years post-PhD) and early career researchers within the first 3 years of their first faculty appointment. Please share this information with anyone you think could benefit from this program. Learn more and apply here!
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IMPACTT TEAM & NETWORK NEWS
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Dr. Paul Kubes (Platform 1 Co-Lead) received a $9.82 million Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) grant to upgrade a containment level 3 (CL3) lab at the University of Calgary. This imaging lab is one of only a few CL3 facilities in Canada, and will enable researchers to study SARS-CoV-2, tuberculosis, and other pathogens in vivo. Read more here. Congratulations!
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Dr. Kathy McCoy (IMPACTT Director & Platform 1 Lead) and Dr. Paul Kubes (Platform 1 Co-Lead) received Clarivate Awards for Highly Cited Researchers in the fields of “Cross-Field” and “Immunology”, respectively, for the year 2022. From Clarivate: “Highly Cited Researchers have demonstrated significant and broad influence reflected in their publication of multiple highly cited papers over the last decade. These highly cited papers rank in the top 1% by citations for a field.” Congratulations!
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Dr. Heather Armstrong (IMPACTT Mentee) gave two Keynote Honorary Lectures this month, at City Wide Rounds (University of Toronto) and the PITCH Seminar (University of British Columbia/BC Children’s Hospital). One of her graduate students, Hana Olof, received a Mitacs Studentship.
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IN THE MEDIA
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Dr. Meghan Azad (CMI2 Team Grant Lead) scientifically reviewed an article on Tiny Health called “What are human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs)?” Read the article here.
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New Publications in the Microbiome World
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Gulavi et al. (including IMPACTT Collaborator Dr. Robert Beiko). BMC Microbiology. 10 Nov 2022.
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Highlights: Preterm birth, occurring before 37 weeks gestation, puts infants at increased risk of perinatal morbidity and mortality, and around 12% of births in sub-Saharan Africa are preterm. In this study, researchers tested whether there is an association between vaginal/placental microbiota and preterm birth in a Kenyan hospital. The study enrolled 49 patients presenting with preterm labour, as well as a control group of 49 patients matching the study group as closely as possible, with a final total of 23 matched pairs that had sufficient data for comparison. Vaginal, and sometimes placental, samples were taken during active labour for microbiome analysis. Lactobacillus spp. were identified in all subjects, and Gardnerella and/or Prevotella spp. were identified in more than half. Both Gardnerella and Prevotella have been previously associated with preterm birth, but in this study no such association was found. In contrast to some previous studies, no significant difference in bacterial composition was found between the preterm group and the control group.
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Diener et al. Nature Metabolism. 10 Nov 2022.
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Higlights: In this study, researchers investigated how the blood metabolome is influenced by host genetics and the microbiome. They tested blood metabolites from 1,569 individuals with paired genomic and microbiome data, and found that 595 of 930 blood metabolites were significantly associated with either host genetics or the gut microbiome. Of these 595 metabolites, 69% were associated with only the microbiome, 15% with only the host genome, and 16% were associated with both. They note that this information will help guide targeted interventions designed to alter the composition of the human blood metabolome.
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Li et al. BMC Medicine. 15 Nov 2022.
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Higlights: Preeclampsia (PE) and eclampsia increase the risk for preterm birth, are the leading cause of maternal and neonatal death. Recent observational studies have reported an association between gut microbiota composition and PE, but a causal effect is unknown. In this study, researchers obtained gut microbiota summary statistics from a meta-analysis conducted by the MiBioGen consortium (n=13,266) and PE-eclampsia summary statistics from the FinnGen consortium (5731 cases and 160,670 controls), and performed a two-sample Mandelian randomization study to identify bacterial genera that were causally associated with PE-eclampsia. They found Bifidobacterium to have a protective effect on PE-eclampsia, and 4 other genera had suggestive protective effects against PE. However, no significant causal association was found between PE and gut microbiota.
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New Publications from our IMPACTT Team and Network
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Dr. Celia Greenwood (Platform 5 Lead)
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Shao et al. Communications Biology. 22 Nov 2022.
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Dr. Benjamin Willing (IMPACTT Co-Applicant)
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Fodor et al. Microbial Pathogenesis. 14 Nov 2022.
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Dr. Robert Bandsma (CMI2 Team Grant Lead)
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Arvidsson Kvissberg et al. Scientific Reports. 19 Nov 2022.
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Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta (CMI2 Team Grant Lead)
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Connor et al. BMJ Global Health. Nov 2022.
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Salam et al. In: Making Health Systems Work in Low and Middle Income Countries: Textbook for Public Health Practitioners. Eds. Siddiqi et al. Dec 2022.
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Shetty et al. PLOS Global Public Health. 17 Nov 2022.
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Dr. David Mack (CMI2 Team Grant Lead)
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Hodgkinson et al. Clinical Nutrition. 02 Nov 2022.
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Dr. Kelly McNagny (CMI2 Team Grant Lead)
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Brassard et al. Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark. 04 Nov 2022.
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Le et al. Scientific Reports. 03 Nov 2022.
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Dr. Aleixo Muise (CMI2 Team Grant Lead)
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Aschenbrenner et al. Journal of Clinical Immunology. 12 Nov 2022.
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Dr. Roger Paredes (CMI2 Team Grant Lead)
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Espana-Cueto et al. Journal of Biomedical Research & Environmental Sciences. 08 Nov 2022.
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UPCOMING EVENTS AND REMINDERS
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Click here to see curated lists of upcoming events in the microbiome world
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A Shotgun Metagenomics Analysis Workshop is being held by the International Microbiome Centre Dec 12-14, 2022 at the University of Calgary! This three-day in-person workshop will give you a taste of shotgun metagenomics data analysis. Register here.
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Having IMPACTT 3 Symposium
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IMPACTT Microbiome Standards
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Our four Microbiome Standards are ready to ship across Canada and internationally, and they’re FREE for Canadian labs. (Not in Canada? Just pay shipping.) Click here to learn more and sign up to receive your standards.
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Be a contributor to our microbiome community!
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