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IMPACTT Newsletter | May 2020
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A word from our Director
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IMPACTT, the Integrated Microbiome Platforms to Advance Causation Testing and Translation, is pleased to introduce you to its monthly Newsletter. In this first edition, you will find some of our “impactt-ful” discoveries, insightful online resources, microbiome related events and more. Take a peak and contact us if you would like to share something with us in this newsletter.
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Thank you all for your interest and involvement in building a more connected and knowledgeable microbiome community!
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CIHR announced the Canadian Microbiome Initiative 2 teams at Me and My Microbes.
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CIHR officially revealed the successful applicants of the Canadian Microbiome Initiative 2 Teams during the inauguration of ME & MY MICROBES. This interactive microbiome exhibition to "discover the zoo inside you" hosted at the Museum of Nature in Ottawa was a success. Among others, Dr. McCoy, IMPACTT director, Dr. Arrieta, Dr. Geuking, Dr Kubes, and Dr. Sycuro IMPACTT leads from UCalgary proudly helped as part of the exhibition knowledge sponsor to develop the event.
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More details about the successful applicants of the Canadian Microbiome Initiative 2 (CMI2) can be found here.
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This project seeks to understand how environmental changes have influenced the gut microbiome in infants, children and young adults with defined genetic risk for T1D. Dr. Danska is the IMPACTT Sex and Gender Champion, a Senior Scientist in the Genetics & Genome Biology Program and Associate Chief of Faculty Development at the University of Toronto and SickKids Hospital.
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Scientific breakthroughs
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Combining wet-lab techniques with powerful statistical analysis, Dr. Kozyrskyj’s team and colleagues studied found that maternal psychological distress before birth influences gut immunity in mid‐infancy. Their study illustrates how the CHILD Cohort Study can be used to study early-life microbiome and also the research power of having such a rich resource.
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Researchers ability to study human cohort data is essential in clinical research, but raises questions about individual’s privacy, data ownership, and control. To help microbiome researchers navigate these challenges, ethics and microbiome experts, including Dr. Silva, published a manuscript that “creates awareness of the potential benefits and challenges of sharing individual’s clinical data. The author also discuss how to overcome these challenges, and how the clinical pharmacology community can shape future directions in this field.
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Generating an extensive collection of gnotobiotic mouse colonies, Dr. McCoy, Dr. Geuking and their teams identified three bacterial species populating the small intestine in early life that together can suppress hygiene-mediated hyper-IgE. Their work is contributing to better understand the role of the microbiome during the “window of opportunity” in early-life and its implication in allergy and autoimmune diseases.
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Using germ-free mouse model of myocarditis and fecal material transplantation technics, Dr. McCoy, Dr. Geuking, Dr. Ludewig and their teams are on the path to unravel the role of our microbiota in lethal inflammatory cardiomyopathy.
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Microbiome Reviews
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Cataloguing recent birth cohorts that document associations between immune dysregulation and microbial alterations, Dr. Arrieta and Dr. Pettersen, highlight the evidences supporting the role of the gut microbiome as an etiological determinant of immune-mediated allergic diseases.
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Looking into the literature about the early-life microbiome, Dr. McDonald and Dr. McCoy discuss the importance of the maternal microbiota in pregnancy and early life, notably its role in shaping offspring development and health.
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Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), a gut microbial-modulation strategy, has been used for the treatment of a variety of human diseases, notably obesity-associated metabolic disorders. Nevertheless, “the clinical benefits of using FMT to rebuild gut microbial ecosystems in patients with obesity and MS are not well established.” Dr. Madsen and colleagues, curated the current literature to provide “an overview of the effectiveness and limitations of FMT as a potential therapeutic strategy for obesity and metabolic syndrome (MS)”. This manuscript points up the gaps in the field and explores the possibilities to improve this cutting-edge technique
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New bioinformatics tools for microbiome data
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Developed by the Greenwood research team. Dr. Greenwood is leading the IMPACTT Bioinformatics Development Platform, and a Professor in Oncology, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGills University.
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Developed by the Brinkman research team. Dr. Brinkman is co-leading the IMPACTT Bioinformatics Platform, and a Professor at the School of Computing Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University.
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Dr. Brinkman’s collaborative work on characterizing a new antimicrobial cocktail raises hope to fight “superbug“ infections and their biofilms.
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A study from Dr. Kozyrskyj’s team and colleagues links depression symptoms during pregnancy to lower immunity in infants.
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SHIELD is testing “an orally administered, colon-targeted adsorbent administered to protect patients intestinal microbiota from antibiotic-induced disruption, thus limiting the risks of developing a C. difficile infection and getting colonized by antibiotic resistant bacteria”. Thomas Louie, president of the Scientific Committee of the SHIELD study is a co-applicant of IMPACTT and a Professor of Medecine at the University of Calgary.
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The technology aims to test up to 750 or maybe 1000 samples per day per instrument and overcome the current shortage of reagents. Dr. Lewis, is the co-lead of our IMPACTT Omics platform and assistant professor in Biochemistry at the University of Calgary.
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Dr. Kubes is co-lead of our Gnotobiotic Animal Models platform and professor in the Departments of Physiology & Pharmacology at the University of Calgary.
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Dr. Niu is a co-applicant of IMPACTT, an expert in virology and an assistant professor of infectious disease in the Department of Ecosystem and Public Health at the University of Calgary. See their interview.
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Trending: our microbiome and SARS-CoV-2
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SARS-CoV-2 entry receptor (ACE2), which the virus uses to infect the cells, is expressed in many tissues including our lungs and our gastrointestinal tract. This could explain why some patients show gastrointestinal symptoms.
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Published in The Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol on 2020 Apr 24, Mak JWY., Chan FKL. & Ng SC. provide an overview of the evidence for the role of probiotics in COVID-19-related illnesses.
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Follow some of the recommendations of scientific experts to stay healthy owing to your microbes and increase your chance of fighting a possible infection.
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You are interested into COVID-19 research and the microbiome? IMPACTT can help you with animal models!
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We have proven experience in rederiving mouse models to germ-free and/ gnotobiotic status. If you are thinking about using such models but need your model to be rederived or if you need assistance in selecting a model to be rederived, contact us.
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Microbiome resources
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A rich online resource for scientists engaged in translational microbiome research.
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Taconic generates and distributes genetically engineered mouse and rat models and is highly involved in microbiome research.
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- The World of Microbiome will hold two conferences from November 4th to 6th, 2020 in Vienna, Austria. Click on the pictures below for more details.
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Saw an interesting talk?
Know about an upcoming webinar?
Read or published an insightful paper...
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