Project description
Deciphering gut microbiota-host interactions for targeted intervention
The gut microbiota plays a vital role in health by aiding digestion, absorbing nutrients and supporting the immune system and brain function. Since dietary and therapeutic interventions can modify the gut microbiota, their regulation could improve health and prevent disease. However, the microbial diversity that makes up the gut microbiota differs in each person, making it difficult to predict how alterations would affect the host. Using multiomics-based modelling, the ERC-funded MetaboGutModel project will investigate bacterial metabolic functions, molecular interactions within microbial communities and the mechanisms of microbial interactions. It will then provide a framework to systematically resolve the microbiota contributions to the host metabolic phenotype, thus enabling targeted microbiota interventions.
Objective
The gut microbiota is essential to human health: microorganisms in the human body help to digest nutrients, engage in host metabolism, immunity, behaviour and brain functions. Since the gut microbiota, in contrast to the human genome, can be modified through dietary and therapeutic interventions, modulating the microbiota is a promising path to improve human health and to prevent or treat diseases. However, predicting the effects of microbiota perturbations on the host metabolic phenotype remains extremely challenging due to our limited understanding of bacterial metabolic functions, molecular interactions within microbial communities, and the mechanisms of microbial interactions with the host.
I propose to tackle these challenges with a combination of experimental and computational approaches in a synthetic community of 14 common human gut bacteria, which has been associated with > 150 health-relevant metabolites involved in amino acid, vitamin, and hormone metabolism in vivo. We will follow a bottom-up strategy to i) systematically characterize the capacity of single bacteria to consume and produce metabolites of interest and identify the responsible enzymes; ii) investigate the metabolism of these compounds in compositionally diverse synthetic communities; and iii) quantify and modulate microbiota contribution to the host metabolism of these compounds in mouse models. To this aim, we will combine high-throughput bacterial culturing, metabolomics, transcriptomics and proteomics assays with genome-scale metabolic modelling, graph-based multi-omics integration methods and physiology-based models of microbiota-host interactions. This project will provide a generalized framework to systematically resolve microbiota contributions to the host metabolic phenotype, and elucidate the fundamental principles governing microbiota-host metabolic interactions, thus enabling targeted microbiota interventions to modulate the host metabolic phenotype and improve human health.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins proteomics
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins enzymes
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
69117 Heidelberg
Germany
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