Microbiomes – Multimedia

Current in vitro models of the small intestine offer limited predictivity due to their reliance on immortalized cell lines and static culture. To better predict human response to drug candidates, researchers need a model than can more closely recreate the intestinal microenvironment.

In this bumper episode, the team review a series of studies from the last year that investigate Christmassy food. Could the future of Christmas dinner involve a cell culture roast, unnaturally smooth chocolate and fractal cauliflower?

In this episode, the team examine a new study that challenges the notion that gut microbes may play a causal role in autism spectrum disorder. Might a link once ascribed to signaling from the gut’s nervous system actually just be a consequence of restricted diet?

In this episode, the Technology Networks team review a pair of studies showing off the power of microbes. In one, they act as a conduit in an unlikely potential health benefit for a high-salt diet. In the other, they are revealed to play an important role in the breakdown of plastic in the environment.

A new study led by Scripps Research scientist Howard Hang, PhD, explains how and why a certain species of bacteria in the digestive tract significantly improves the tumor-fighting ability of approved cancer drugs known as checkpoint inhibitors.

Download this listicle to learn more about correlations between the gut–brain axis and personality, how life events impact the gut microbiota and stress response, pain from the gut and in the gut, the microbiota and the immune system.

In this Front Row lecture, you’ll learn why specific bacteria in our body are such powerful mediators of health – and find out about breakthrough discoveries that are now on their way to becoming medicines.

Download this listicle to discover recent research highlights such as the role of the microbiome in food allergies, sequencing microbiome dynamics and overturning conventions in human urology.

For this installment of Teach Me in 10, we are joined by Dr. Alexandre Almeida, a postdoctoral fellow in the Finn research group at the EMBL-EBI. Almeida teaches us all about the hidden secrets of the human microbiome, in less than 10 minutes.

British Society for Immunology member and professor of immunology at Imperial College London Danny Altmann discusses what the gut microbiome is and why researchers think it could be important for helping our immune systems to function correctly.