Gut health
About this team
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The overall goal of our research is to improve gut health, based on the paradigm that nutrition, intestinal microbiota, gut mucosa and the brain intensively interact with each other. Initially we focus on impaired gut health in patients with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) as well as in the elderly. In the near future, we will also direct our research towards improving aspects of brain function associated with mood, anxiety, ADHD and autism.
Our research is based on inter-disciplinary problem definition. Biomedical as well as psychosocial researchers collaborate closely. We primarily perform human research with a clear anchoring in clinical practice and public health, which facilitates the translational research process and valorisation of research results.
The research group represents disciplines like gastroenterology, nutrition, biomedicine, microbiology, immunology, neurology, clinical psychology and bioinformatics.
Clinical and experimental models
As we prioritise human models in our research, we heavily depend on enrolling patients and healthy subjects in the studies. The primary research materials are tissue samples from the intestinal tract (biopsies) as well as faecal, salivary and blood samples. The techniques we currently apply comprise:
- Analysis of the intestinal microbiota (faeces as well as mucosa) from both a descriptive and functional perspective
- Ex vivo measurement of intestinal mucosal barrier function using e.g. Ussing chamber model
- Various types of perfusion techniques in order to expose defined sites and segments of the bowel with specific microbiota or substances
- Measure visceral perception using the barostat technique
- Measuring modulations of brain activity in response to various stimuli using functional brain imaging (fMRI)
- Measure levels and effects of stress and anxiety by various biological and psychological methods
External collaborations
The research group has extensive national an international collaboration with e.g. Linköping University, Karolinska Institute, Wageningen University Research Centre (The Netherlands), Helsinki University (Finland), UCLA (USA) as well as a number of companies mainly active within the food and nutrition sector.
Research projects
- Development of an in vivo butyrate sensor
- Effect of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) ligands on human colonic intraepithelial lymphocytes
- Effect of the enzyme AN-PEP on gluten degradation in gluten-sensitive individuals
- Faecal microbial transplantation (FMT) in IBS
- Faecal microbiota transfer in microscopic colitis
- Gluten reaction in children and young adults with cerebral palsy (CP)
- Identification of dietary fibres that promotes butyrate production
- Interaction between dietary protein and fibre fermentation - its functional consequences
- Interaction between dietary protein and fibre fermentation - its functional consequences
- Intervention with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for subjects with IBS and its effects on visceral perception, abdominal complaints, psychological functioning and gut microbiota
- Intervention with probiotics for subjects with IBS and its possible effects on the brain-gut interaction in terms of stress, anxiety, gut microbiota and brain activity during visceral stimuli
- Microbes inside
- Mode of action of butyrate in the human colon
- To determine the butyrate transport capacity in vitro and in tissue samples from healthy individuals and from patients with digestive disorders
- To evaluate anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects of butyrate on the transport of large neutral amino acids such as tryptophan, a precursor of the neurotransmitter serotonin, in in vitro models
