Genes of intestinal microbes, human health and disease

The central objective of our project is to establish associations between the genes of the human intestinal microbiota and our health and disease.  We focus on two disorders of increasing importance in Europe, Inflamatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and obesity. The incidence of IBD has been growing steadily during the past five decades in Western Europe, and is now increasing dramatically in Eastern Europe. IBD is becoming an important burden on the young populations. The global epidemic of obesity is well recognized and imposes a huge and rapidly growing challenge for the public health services.

To reach our central objective a number of activities must be carried out in an integrated way. First, we need to establish an extensive reference catalog of microbial genes and genomes present in the human intestine. The second challenge is to develop tools to determine which genes and genomes of the reference catalog are present in different individuals and at what frequency. Third, it is necessary to gather cohorts of individuals, some sick and some healthy, and determine which genes and genomes they carry. Also, it is crucial to develop bioinformatic tools to store, organize and interpret this information, and thus establish associations between intestinal microbiota and health and disease. In addition, the function of bacterial genes associated with disease need to be studied to help understand the underlying mechanisms and host/microbe interactions.

Our project must be integrated in the world we live in. For this purpose, the necessary international cooperation and coordination in the human Metagenome field will be facilitated, by active participation in the International Human Microbiome Consortium (IHMC), the transfer of technology to industry will be promoted, via an appropriate Stakeholder platform, and the information about the project will be presented and made easily accessible to the general public.