Gut health
About this team
Team information
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Research subject
Research environments
Research area
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
Short introduction movie to how we perform Ussing chamber experiments in the lab
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.
Researchers
- Robert Jan Brummer
- Richard Forsgård
- John-Peter Ganda-Mall
- Ashley Hutchinson
- Johnny Karlsson
- Julia König
- Tatiana Marques
- Samira Prado
- Ignacio Rangel
- Julia Rode
- Lina Tingö
- Rebecca Wall
- Myrto Chatzopoulou, PhD student
- Annalena Kamm, PhD student
- Evangelia Kerezoudi, PhD student
- Fernanda Roca, PhD student
- Mathias Tabat, PhD student
Research projects
Active projects
- Comparing the efficacy of encapsulated and non-encapsulated probiotics to affect brain function
- Compositional analysis of the human gut microbiota along the entire large intestine
- Effect of serotonergic stimulation on the gut-brain axis in irritable bowel syndrome patients compared with healthy subjects applying functional brain imaging
- Establishing a novel gut-brain axis model
- Exploring the probiotic and postbiotic effect of Akkermansia muciniphila on intestinal barrier function in patients with Parkinson's disease - applying Ussing chambers and electron microscopy techniques
- Identification of dietary fibres that promotes butyrate production
- ImprUV+ - An analytical framework to explore the effects of UV during plant growth on human health
- Interaction between dietary protein and fibre fermentation - its functional consequences
- Microbes inside
- Mode of action of butyrate in the human colon
- POPgut - The impact of persistent organic pollutants exposure on gut health
- The effect of probiotic supplementation on antibody response against SARS-CoV-2 in healthy adults
- The effects of fermentable dietary fibre supplementation on intestinal permeability and inflammation in microscopic colitis
- To determine the butyrate transport capacity in vitro and in tissue samples from healthy individuals and from patients with digestive disorders
- Unpuzzle - Unravelling molecular motifs from dietary fibers responsible for interaction with recognition receptors in human cells
Completed projects
- Ageing and the gastrointestinal microbiome: effects on immunology and cognitive function
- Development of an in vivo butyrate sensor
- Dietary Fibers supporting Gut and Immune Function - from polysaccharide compound to health claim (FibeBiotics)
- 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
- Efficacy of dietary supplementation with Lactobacilllus reuteri for digestive health in an elderly population (ELROY)
- Faecal microbial transplantation (FMT) in IBS
- Faecal microbiota transfer in microscopic colitis
- Glucocorticoid-enhanced extinction-based exposure therapy in Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Gluten reaction in children and young adults with cerebral palsy (CP)
- Identifying mechanisms for development of novel therapeutic strategies to treat age-associated constipation and diarrhoea (FODI)
- Intervention with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for subjects with IBS and its effects on visceral perception, abdominal complaints, psychological functioning and gut microbiota
- Microbe-host interactions in post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome (PI-IBS)
- Psycho(bio)logical effects of a probiotic mixture - an fMRI study
- 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
Research funding bodies
- The European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism
- Wageningen University
