IMPACTT Newsletter | August 2020

Meet our researcher - Dr. Anita Kozyrskyj

Scientific breakthroughs

• Vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy and early infancy in relation to gut microbiota composition and C. difficile colonization: implications for viral respiratory infections. Drall K. M., et al. Gut Microbes. 2020 August 11. Studying 1,157 mother-infant pairs of the CHILD Cohort. Drall, Dr. Kozyrskyj's team and colleagues unravel a possible link between vitamin D supplementation during early-life and protection against C. difficile infection.
• Tacrolimus impairs Kupffer cell capacity to control bacteremia: why transplant recipients are susceptible to infection. Deppermann C, et al. Hepatology, 2020 Aug 6. Using a define mouse model of acute methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteremia along with intravital microscopy, Deppermann C, et al. discovered why Tacrolimus, a drug used to prevent rejection in solid organ transplant recipients increases the susceptibility of transplant recipient to develop a bacterial infection
• Programing of an Intravascular Immune Firewall by the Gut Microbiota Protects against Pathogen Dissemination during Infection. B. McDonald, A. Z. Zucoloto et al. Cell Host & Microbe. 17 August 2020. Treating germ-free and gnotobiotic mice with D- Lactate, together with in vivo imaging, the authors unveiled that microbial D-lactate is a modulator of an intravascular immune firewall that protects against the spread of bacterial infections via the bloodstream.

New tools for microbiome studies

• Human intestinal organoids (hIOs) as a model for microbiota research: Maturation of human intestinal organoids in vitro facilitates colonization by commensal lactobacilli by reinforcing the mucus layer. Son YS, et al. FASEB. 2020 Jun 30.
• Dysbiosis in a canine model of human fistulizing Crohn's disease: A surrogate model for understanding the microbial contribution of human perianal Crohn’s disease pathophysiology. Maldonado-Contreras A, et al. Gut Microbes. 2020 July 30.

Hot in the press

• Announcing two new journals
  • Immunotherapy Advances Journal. A new open-access sister journal of Immunology from the British Society for Immunology, for translational pipeline for immunotherapy.
  • Maternal Microbiome in Health and Disease: Advances and Possible Outcome. A new specialized journal from Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, Edited by Drs Carla Taddei, Laura K Sycuro and Omry Kore.
• New catalogue of 204,938 reference genomes from the human gut microbiome. An intercontinental effort.
• A Microbiota Vault to save our biodiversity!

Upcoming virtual events

• Worlds of Microbiome Pregnancy, Birth and Infancy and Digestive and Metabolic Health are going virtual from 4 to 6 November 2020, more info here.
• The Microbiome Movement is organizing a series of conferences tailored to promote the translation of microbiome R&D into commercially viable products. Topic includes Human Nutrition, Pregnancy & Early-life, and more.
• The 4th International Conference on Microbiome, Probiotics & Gut Nutrition is going virtual from December 7 to 8, 2020.

A note from us: IMPACTT platforms are back-up at 100%

• We have proven experience in rederiving mouse models to germ-free and/ gnotobiotic status. Whether you are thinking about using such models, need your model to be rederived or need assistance in selecting a model to be rederived, contact us. We are also willing to provide models to help in the fight against SARS-CoV-2. Discover the inside of IMC and its cutting-edge technology with Dr. McCoy in this video.
• Interested in intra-vital microscopy, strains or human tissue samples, cohort study, omics, bioinformatics, explore our expertise here and contact us.