Project description:To collect human tissue, blood, and fecal samples from patients suffering from Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Colorectal Cancer. The samples will be used to establish biomimetic human organ-on-a-chip technology, as well as study the role of the microbiome in the pathogenesis in human gastrointestinal diseases.
Project description:Morphine causes microbial dysbiosis. In this study we focused on restoration of native microbiota in morphine treated mice and looked at the extent of restoration and immunological consequences of this restoration. Fecal transplant has been successfully used clinically, especially for treating C. difficile infection2528. With our expanding knowledge of the central role of microbiome in maintenance of host immune homeostasis17, fecal transplant is gaining importance as a therapy for indications resulting from microbial dysbiosis. There is a major difference between fecal transplant being used for the treatment of C. difficile infection and the conditions described in our studies. The former strategy is based on the argument that microbial dysbiosis caused by disproportionate overgrowth of a pathobiont can be out-competed by re-introducing the missing flora by way of a normal microbiome transplant. This strategy is independent of host factors and systemic effects on the microbial composition. Here, we show that microbial dysbiosis caused due to morphine can be reversed by transplantation of microbiota from the placebo-treated animals.
Project description:We found that low protein diet consumption resulted in decrease in the percentage of normal Paneth cell population in wild type mice, indicating that low protein diet could negatively affect Paneth cell function. We performed fecal microbiota composition profiling. Male mice were used at 4-5 weeks of age. Fecal samples were collected for microbiome analysis.
Project description:Genome wide DNA methylation profiling of saliva DNA from 197 alcohol dependent subjects. The Illumina Infinium 27k Human DNA methylation Beadchip v1.2 was used to obtain DNA methylation profiles across approximately 27,000 CpGs in saliva samples.
