Mostly Microbes and Infection

Assistant Provost for Research:   David Ojcius.  The  Office of Research and Sponsored Programs strives to provide the highest quality of support to faculty, staff, and students by facilitating proposal processing; managing submission and review; and administration of awards/contracts and Research Compliance.

  Calorie Restriction is known to delay progression of age-related diseases in animal models. A new study suggests the same biological mechanisms may apply to humans.

Scientists have used CRISPR to create chickens that have some resistance to avian flu . The research is "proof of concept that we can move toward making chickens resistant to the virus".

Urbanization associates with restricted gut microbiome diversity & delayed maturation in infants in Senegal. •Urban infants also more susceptible to infectious diseases •Urban mothers had higher abundance of Lachnospiraceae & Enterobacter

by Jan Martel, Shih-Hsin Chang, Yun-Fei Ko, Tsong-Long Hwang, John D. Young & David M. Ojcius   Highlights Maintenance of gut barrier integrity is indispensable for health as the gut barrier protects the host against gut microbes, food antigens, and toxins. Many factors such as enteric infection, antibiotics, low-fiber diets, circadian rhythm disruption, and psychological stress can affect gut barrier integrity and lead to systemic, low-grade inflammation due to translocation of bacteria and their components. While the body can resist transient gut barrier disruption, it may be overwhelmed by mild insult due to genetic predisposition, chronic stress, and aging, which may contribute to the development of autoimmune, metabolic, and mental health disorders. Consideration of the various intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect gut barrier integrity and microbiota composition is needed to maintain or restore human health.