#NatMicroPicks
A microbial signature of health! π¦ βοΈ
A large meta-analysis highlights the importance of previously unknown and uncultured gut bacteria in maintaining human health
#MicroSky
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Posts by Alexandre Almeida
Do you want to learn essential GIBA concepts and techniques?
We're hosting three mornings of expert-led sessions on gut, immune and brain research, from 23-26 March π’π
π Open to all across the GIBA Network
π
Register by 13 March!
π giba-uk.org/events/the-g...
π¬ New insights from gut-immune-brain research π
A study with our network's @alexmsalmeida.bsky.social uncovers a "hiddenβ gut bacterial group found in higher levels in healthy people.
Could this be key to microbiome health and future probiotic innovation? ππ¦
www.newscientist.com/article/2514...
Congratulations to @alexmsalmeida.bsky.social and his research team at the @camvetschool.bsky.social on their latest paper exploring the βhiddenβ microbes in our gut.
Discover more about their fascinating findings on the University of Cambridge Research website ππ½
www.cam.ac.uk/research/new...
Is there a missing link in our gut health? π¦
New research from Alexandre Almeidaβs lab has uncovered a βhidden groupβ of bacteria - known as CAG-170 - that appears to be an indicator of human health.
Read the full story: www.cam.ac.uk/research/new...
@alexmsalmeida.bsky.social
I still find it mad that even though pretty much everyone now knows what a gut microbiome is and might think we have a pretty good idea of what's going on in there, we still don't have much clue about the majority of species in our guts, saying they are part of the "hidden microbiome"
Thanks to @chrisnsimms.bsky.social and the @newscientist.com for covering our new work on the uncultured microbiome in @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social. It was great chatting more about the implications of our findings!
Thanks for the shoutout Guillaume!
Great work again from @alexmsalmeida.bsky.social et al highlights uncultured genus CAG-170 (Oscillospiraceae) to be central node in healthy co-abundance networks in >11k gut metagenomes, with predicted B12 biosynthesis/cross-feeding functions possibly involved.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Thank you to @camvetschool.bsky.social and the Medical Research Council @ukri.org for their support!
We believe this work has important implications for the microbiome field by raising awareness that hidden, understudied members of the human gut microbiome may actually have a relevant role in health.
By investigating the functional and metabolic capacity of CAG-170 and related genomes, we predicted that CAG-170 has a particularly high capacity to produce vitamin B12 and appears to be strongly involved in cross-feeding interactions within the gut microbiome.
We discovered three key signals: (1) CAG-170 showed the strongest association with health compared to other taxa; (2) CAG-170 was the most interconnected genus in healthy microbiomes; and (3) CAG-170 abundance was negatively correlated with the level of gut dysbiosis.
From all our analyses, one group consistently popped up: CAG-170. This is a largely uncultured bacterial genus (the vast majority of genomes are exclusively represented by MAGs), so there is currently limited knowledge on what it is and what it is able to do.
By pinpointing individual species linked to this signal, we found that the uncultured microbiome in general was most strongly associated with health compared to disease.
Using machine learning approaches, we first found that models using the uncultured microbiome performed better for disease classification in both within- and between-disease comparisons, highlighting its potential clinical value.
To address this, we performed a large-scale meta-analysis of 11,115 human gut metagenomes across multiple countries and clinical conditions to investigate both shared and specific patterns of the uncultured microbiome in health and disease.
Building upon the discovery of thousands of uncultured species in the human gut microbiome (www.nature.com/articles/s41... & www.nature.com/articles/s41...), we wanted to ask: what is the clinical relevance of this understudied diversity?
Excited to share the newest paper from our team, where we uncovered a potential role of the uncultured gut #microbiome in health: www.cell.com/cell-host-mi.... Out now in @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social @cellpress.bsky.social. With Ana C. da Silva, Jacob Lapkin, Qi Yin and Efrat Muller.
Our team wrote a review for Gut Microbes on the role of the gut #microbiome in modulating enteric infections. Great team effort by Qi Yin, @samriddhigupta.bsky.social and Efrat Muller: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Excited to be speaking at this ECR Symposium in Nottingham. Free to attend!
We have a fully-funded PhD studentship available to elucidate the host-adaptive traits of the human gut microbiome: bbsrcdtp.lifesci.cam.ac.uk/how-apply (targeted project: TRG-VET-AA26).
Feel free to reach out with a CV and cover letter stating your interest in this project.
Applications to our free course on "Introduction to Experimental Design and Core Statistics" closes this Friday. Part of the @ukgibanetwork.bsky.social, this is a great opportunity to improve your statistical skills and get to meet other network members.
Apply here: forms.office.com/e/sdys5HATUH
Applications to the first training event: "Introduction to Experimental Design and Core Statistics" of the UK GIBA Network+ (@ukgibanetwork.bsky.social) are now open! Taking place Dec 8-10 in Cambridge.
Further info: www.giba-uk.org/training-opp...
Apply here: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...
π Want to boost your research skills?
Join our 3-day training on Experimental Design and Core Statistics in Cambridge (Dec 8β10).
β
Free to attend
πββοΈ Open to all career stages
π Travel and accommodation costs reimbursed
Apply by October 17th π www.giba-uk.org/training-opp...
Our working groups support the development of effective collaborations across the UK to advance research.
Introduced by Franziska Denk (@denklab.bsky.social) at our #GIBANetworklaunch.
Want to know our first 5οΈβ£ topics? Find out here π
www.giba-uk.org/working-groups
βοΈ Flexible funds
βοΈ Fellowships
βοΈ Mobility awards
Our director Jonathan Swann shares some of the ways we will expand the mechanistic understanding of the gut-immune-brain axis.
More details will appear on our Network website in the coming days π
www.giba-uk.org/funding-oppo... #GIBANetworklaunch
βOne of the key pillars of our network is training,β says
@alexmsalmeida.bsky.social.
We are committed to equip our members with the skills, tools and methods essential for research.
Our first course was announced at our #GIBANetworklaunch π
Want to know more? π
π giba-uk.org/training-opp...
Representing the bioinformatics crowd at the #GIBANetworklaunch