The BCMM has launched a research program to study how drugs influence the microbiome and, in turn, affect immune function and disease outcomes. Led by Drs. Peter Turnbaugh and Sergio Baranzini, this program focuses on the interactions between FDA-approved drugs, host-associated microbes, and the immune system. The goal is to determine whether existing drugs can be repurposed to treat immune-related diseases by leveraging microbiome insights.
To acchieve this, the team will:
- Lnik clinical data to microbiome profiles: Use electronic health records (EHR) to systematically connect patient data with microbiome characteristics;
- Identify drug-responsive microbes: Investigate which microbial species respond to specific drugs and how these responses impact immune function;
- Develop advanced experimental models: Created translationally relevant gnotobiotic (germ-free) mouse models to study drug-microbiome interactions.
The program will provide valuable resources to the BCMM community, including extensive EHR-based metadata, an expanded microbial strain collection derived from human samples, gain- and loss-of-function libraries across diverse bacterial species, and new germ-free mouse lines and experimentally tractable models.
This initiative aims to advance our understanding of how microbiome-drug interactions can be harnested to improve treatments for immune-related diseases.
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