PME Thesis Defense: Ande Hesser

The development of a synbiotic butyrate-producing therapeutic for food allergy<br /><br />

The commensal microbes which colonize the human body are critical regulators of health and homeostasis. Modern lifestyle factors deplete populations of beneficial microbes, and this dysbiosis has been correlated with the rising incidence of numerous noncommunicable chronic diseases. Re-introduction of rationally selected, protective bacteria (or their products) will likely be an effective strategy to prevent or treat these diseases by targeting the underlying cause of immune dysregulation. I will present my thesis work towards developing one such bacterial therapeutic. Previous work from our lab identified a bacterium which exhibits allergy-protective effects in mice. Now, we have isolated a novel strain of this species from the feces of a healthy infant and characterized this isolate extensively in vitro. We found that co-delivery of this species with a specific prebiotic (i.e., as a synbiotic) increases luminal butyrate in vivo. Butyrate is a bacterial metabolite with well-known immunoregulatory properties. Administration of this synbiotic to mice both prevents and treats allergic responses to food, demonstrating that targeting the microbiome is an effective therapeutic strategy.

<a href="https://uchicago.zoom.us/j/99396089568?pwd=Z2FMZUZka1JwK1d6SEUvdVg3RDVL… Link</a>