Host-microbe interactions in metabolic health

The laboratory for Host-Microbe Interactions in Metabolic Health aims scientific research on the molecular basis of the cell-to-cell communication between intestinal microbiota and the host, and the impact of its impairment in the development of metabolic diseases. The human-associated microbiota research (comprising bacteria, viruses, fungi, unicellular prokaryotes, archaea, etc.), and especially that inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract has established solid knowledge on the symbiotic relationships between these microorganisms and us across our evolutionary history and industrialization. Furthermore, microbiota research applied to biomedicine has evidenced the large impact that our microbes have in our health. Nutrients, metabolites, and proteins exchange between intestinal microbiota and our cells are fundamental to regulate several physiological processes governing our body. Recent advances in microbiota research strongly suggest that impairment in such cell-to-cell molecular communications contribute, and could be the basis, to development of some human diseases including those diet-associated (e.g. obesity, metabolic syndrome, type-2 diabetes, celiac disease, liver disease, among others), behavioural (depression), and cognitive impairment (Alzheimer’s disease).