This monumental task requires innovative thinking and specialized equipment. In his UChicago lab, Asst. Prof. Sam Light and his team study gut microbes by eliminating oxygen creating an oxygen-free environment in a specialized chamber to test microbes found in the large intestines.

Their research has broad implications ranging from understanding biology to treating diseases like inflammatory bowel disease Type II diabetes and liver disease.

To dive deeper we spoke with Light the Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Ph.D. student Joyce Ghali from his lab.

 Why is it important to understand how the gut microbiome works?

 As microbes break down food during digestion they produce small molecules called metabolites which act like drugs. These metabolites can enter our bloodstream and impact our health in various ways. Given the vast number of microbes interacting with us each producing numerous metabolites it’s not surprising that the microbiome can affect health in many different ways.

In recent decades the microbiome has been linked to a wide range of diseases. Understanding how it functions and its composition can help inform more targeted treatments.

The human gut microbiome consists of hundreds of species of microorganisms mainly bacteria that inhabit our gastrointestinal tract. It has evolved alongside us to help with digestion. Without it our digestive systems wouldn’t be able to break down all the food we consume. Evolution found a clever solution by outsourcing this task to the microbes.

We digest simple sugars fats and proteins in the small intestine while dietary fiber moves into the large intestine. The large intestine provides an ideal environment for microbes to break down food components. Different microbial species specialize in digesting various food elements allowing them to extract and deliver an additional 5 to 10% of energy from our diet.

What diseases are potentially affected by the microbiome?

The microbiome has been linked to a variety of diseases including its role in preventing infectious diseases. Some researchers argue that the microbiome is crucial because microbes provide colonization resistance using different mechanisms to make it harder for harmful pathogens to cause illness.

 In the lab we’re focusing on studying the link between the gut microbiome and diseases like Type 2 diabetes and liver disease. While we know a lot about how the microbiome correlates with these conditions our goal is to determine how specific bacteria contribute to specific diseases.

Source: https://news.uchicago.edu/story/light-lab-understanding-gut-microbiome-treat-disease