AwardTherapeutic Award to develop microbiome research in liver disease
蓝莓视频 Imperial BRC researcher 聽received a development grant (~拢50,000) from charity, entitled 鈥淧recision medicine through integrative metagenomics and phenomics in a human NAFLD cohort鈥�. Dr Dumas, Reader in Translational Systems Medicine at Imperial College London, will utilise extensive data, biological and bioinformatic resources available through the 蓝莓视频 Imperial BRC Gut Health and Molecular Phenomics Themes, to characterise the role of the microbiome in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) stratification in a subset of 300 patients.
His group will identify molecular markers of NAFLD such as bacterial taxa (from phylum down to species and strain level), bacterial genes, functions and metabolites. The researchers aim to understand why 30% of subjects with obesity do not develop a fatty liver despite dramatically increased fat mass. This work will complement further intervention studies in humans such as faecal microbiota transplantation, which already take place at Imperial.
In parallel, Dr Dumas鈥� work will investigate if microbial markers 鈥� i.e. chemicals produced by gut microbes 鈥� can be used as early warning signs of fatty liver disease. Ultimately, this research will open the possibility that a simple screening test at a GP clinic could one day be used to spot the early signs of disease and design interventions to reverse liver disease.
