Gut‑derived bacteria can migrate into the brain after a stroke
@fzmarques.bsky.social & colleagues found that blocking sympathetic tone decreases gut permeability, brain bacterial load, and improves motor outcomes without changing infarct size:
New paper from our team 🧠🦠
After stroke, gut‑derived bacteria can migrate into the brain
Blocking sympathetic tone ↓ gut permeability, ↓ brain bacterial load, and improves motor outcomes—without changing infarct size
Congrats to Dr Alex Peh!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
New #MicrobiomeDigest is OUT microbiomedigest.com/2026/01/14/j...
• gut microbiome / @fasnicar.bsky.social
• maternal microbiome / @fzmarques.bsky.social
• bark microbiome / @bobpmleung.bsky.social
See you next week at #MVIF 45 (@microbiomevif.bsky.social)!
Excited to host Tim at the Victorian Heart Institute
Limited space, please sign up below
And thanks for sharing @monashnutrition.bsky.social
For anyone working in microbiome science, gnotobiotics, or reproductive biology, I highly recommend giving it a read, published now in Gut Microbes:
🔗 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
#microbiome #microbiota #germfree #pregnancy #gut
A big shout out to Dr ChudanXu, who led this project, and Dr Simona Antonacci, who provided invaluable technical expertise
This paper is a reminder that rigorous science isn’t just about confirming hypotheses; it’s about staying open to the story the data is trying to tell
Unexpected results can be the most informative - if we’re willing to follow where they lead
Key take‑home messages:
- The maternal microbiome is not optional - it plays a critical role in supporting pregnancy outcomes
- Germ‑free breeding introduces hidden biological constraints that can confound experimental interpretation
In this case, the data led us to a cautionary tale about relying on germ‑free animals for breeding experiments
Our study comparing germ‑free and conventionalised mice revealed just how profoundly the maternal microbiome shapes pregnancy success
Our first paper of 2026 is out
When we began this project, this was not the paper we set out to publish
But science has a way of redirecting us toward the questions we should be asking
#Microbiome researchers-this one’s for you
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
🧵
Excited to welcome Tim to our institute
If you are in Melbourne and are interested in heart health and diet this will be a great event 👇👇👇
I was asked to share my Hypertension Australia Colin Johnston lecture, delivered at the joint Hypertension Australia-@ASCEPTanz last month in Adelaide
So if you missed it, here it is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qZn...
#microbiome #hypertension #bloodpressure #resistantstarches #shortchainfattyacids
😎 Nelson Mandela Epic Fail Award - Inspired by Mandela’s quote ‘I never lose. I either win or learn’, this award recognizes failing but learning from it: winners Liz Vecchio, Phoebe Cheong, and Evany Dinakis
🏆 Research Rockstar Award - For achieving the highest number of peer-reviewed recognition as a PhD student: Chaoran Yang
🏆 Research Rockstar Award - For achieving the highest number of peer-reviewed recognition as a postdoctoral researcher: @rikeish.bsky.social
📈 The Master Organiser Award - For being the most organised person in the team and helping others improve their organisational skills: winner Chudan Xu, runner up Simona Antonacci
📰 Trend Tracker Award - For being the go-to person for communication trends and finding the latest papers in the field: (several times) winner @rikeish.bsky.social, runner up Chaoran Yang
🫂 Awesomeness Award - For being an overall great colleague: winner Phoebe Cheong, runner up Wendy Qin
😄 Funniest Person Ever Award (our most competitive award) - For bringing joy and laughter to the team: winner Wendy Qin, runner up Evany Dinakis
✨ Values Vanguard Award - For supporting the lab values and living by their own values: winner Evany Dinakis, runner up Liz Vecchio
💚 Resilience Pro Award - For being the most resilient person in the team and helping others improve their resilience: (several times) winner Chudan Xu, runner ups Joanne O'Donnell & Jenny Li
💡 Resourcefulness Award - For their problem-solving attitude that has helped our team thrive: Winner Simona Antonacci, runner up Joanne O'Donnell
Announcing our lab annual award winners 🏆
Every year, our team votes on team members who contributed towards helping behaviours, something we fail to capture in promotion and fellowship applications
Here are the 2025 award winners:
Lab presentations at the joint @ascept.bsky.social and Hypertension Australia meeting this week 🤩
#hypertension #microbiome #immunesystem
🌍 Why it matters:
Our findings highlight how diet and gut microbiome (microbes, regional pH, metabolites) influence the host’s systemic immune regulation—with new connections and potential implications for chronic disease prevention
🔍 What we did:
We combined metagenomes, in vivo colonic pH, & deep peripheral immune phenotyping (121 cell types & subtypes) to uncover novel host–microbe interactions in humans - the most detailed map of microbiome interaction w the human systemic immune system to date
✅ New preprint alert, led by final year PhD student Evany Dinakis
📄 Read it here: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
🧬 Key insights: Gut microbiome composition and colonic pH are linked to systemic immune profiles in humans
#microbiome #microbiota #immunesystem @microbiomevif.bsky.social
Congratulations to @rikeish.bsky.social, awarded the Victorian Cardiovascular Research Network inaugural award for best ECR paper of the year in the discovery category
#microbiome #bloodpressure
Kicking goals 👏👏👏
Full paper 👇👇👇
www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/...
Congratulations to Rikeish R Muralitharan
His major PhD paper published in Circulation Research in February 2025 is already a WoS Highly Cited paper 🤩
lnkd.in/gMbx5HyA
You can read more in our review published in Sept 25 in @natrevgastrohep.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
💡 Take‑home: Maternal fibre intake during pregnancy is cardioprotective for offspring, but the effect may be exaggerated in males
@monashuniversity.bsky.social