Research for the Gut: 3 ways Baylor researchers promote microbiome health

At first glance, it’s not a pleasant image to consider: Billions of bacteria, fungi and viruses live in the gut of every human. While that may sound bad, these collections — unique to every human — play an oversized role in human health. Their sheer scope makes them challenging to study, but the benefits of understanding them can help individuals with ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, cancer and more.

It’s a field of knowledge that Baylor researchers are expanding through a focus on different aspects of the human microbiome — the overall collection of microorganisms found throughout the body in areas such as the gastrointestinal tract. Baylor’s strength in the field of microbiome research is rapidly growing, promoting ways to help humans enjoy healthier guts, which in turn promotes healthier people.

Here are three questions Baylor professors seek to answer through their research:

Can the microbes in your gut help prevent colorectal cancer? With early-onset colorectal cancer on the rise, Dr. Leigh Greathouse, associate professor of nutrition sciences and affiliate professor of biology, is digging into the connection between vitamin D, the gut microbiome and cancer prevention. Her research explores why vitamin D appears to protect against colorectal cancer and which beneficial microbes may play a role in that protection. By uncovering those biological clues, Greathouse (herself a cancer survivor) hopes to lay the groundwork for future probiotic-enhanced, food-based approaches that could help reduce cancer risk, particularly for people who are vitamin D-deficient.

What if a child’s gut bacteria could help identify malnutrition before the effects become visible? That possibility is studied by Dr. Jake Minich (pictured above), assistant professor of biology, who pursues ways to combat childhood undernutrition around the world. Using a first-of-its-kind approach to capture complete gut microbiome genomes, Minich and his team analyzed children in Malawi over the course of nearly a year, recovering almost 1,000 bacterial genomes. Their findings showed that children with healthy growth maintained more stable bacterial communities, while children experiencing slower growth saw those populations change over time. The work suggests the gut microbiome may one day serve as an early warning system for children at risk of undernutrition.

Why do the same treatments work well for some patients with digestive disorders but not for others? According to Dr. Aaron Wright, Baylor’s Schofield Endowed Chair in Biomedical Science, part of the answer may lie in the unique collection of microbes living inside each person’s gut. Because every microbiome is different, treatments for conditions such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and irritable bowel syndrome can produce very different results from one patient to the next. Wright is part of a $5.6 million National Institutes of Health-funded team, collaborating with researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine to develop personalized microbiome-based therapies tailored to an individual’s specific gut environment. Their goal is to help move medicine beyond one-size-fits-all treatments and toward therapies designed for the patient, not just the disease.

These are just a few examples of microbiome research at Baylor, with more to come as researchers like these three (two of whom have joined Baylor in the last four years) continue to expand their work, collaborate and address these challenges.

Sic ’em, Baylor microbiome research!