Project description:Interventions: The probiotic is Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN), supplied as Mutaflor, Ardeypharm. Each tablet contains at least 5x108 colony forming units (CFU) EcN.
Participants will take either 2 tablets of probiotic or placebo (sugar pill) per day for 14 to 28 days, prior to surgery or colonoscopy. Previous studies have administered probiotic for 28 days. This has been shown to be a safe human dose in earlier phase I trials that unfortunately did not measure colonisation as an end-point. The duration of intervention will depend upon the time participants are consented before their procedure (at least 14 days).
Adherence of the intervention will be monitored by probiotic tablet return.
Mutaflor and placebo tablets are provided for free from Ardeypharm.
Primary outcome(s): Neoplastic colonisation as assessed by DNA sequencing of surplus pathology tissue.[5 years post-enrolment.]
Study Design: Purpose: Treatment; Allocation: Randomised controlled trial; Masking: Blinded (masking used);Assignment: Parallel;Type of endpoint: Bio-availability
Project description:The fungal mutualist Piriformospora indica is colonising barley roots thereby mediating various beneficial effects to its host. The interaction is characterised by an initial biotrophic interaction stage which is followed by a cell death-dependent colonisation phase. We used microarrays to identify the global programme of gene expression during the colonisation process of barley roots by P. indica and to obtain informations into plant defense and metabolic reprogramming.
Project description:The aim of this study was to investigate the plastic colonisation process, to identify the active taxa involved in biofilm formation and the mechanisms used to initiate colonisation. To achieve this, a marine plastisphere characterised by active hydrocarbonoclastic genera was used as the inoculum for a short-term microcosm experiment using virgin low-density polyethylene as the sole carbon source. Following incubation for 1 and 2 weeks (representing early and late colonisation, respectively), a taxonomic and comparative metaproteomic approach was used to explore shifts in diversity and function.