Project description:<p>Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) is a significant health problem. Close to 20 million individuals in the United States have T2D, and 79 million aged 20 years or older are clinically pre-diabetic, with a 5-year conversion rate of 10% to 23% from prediabetes to T2D. In a collaborative effort to systematically understand diabetes and its etiology, the team is comprised of leading experts in research on both the human host as well as the microbiome, as properties of both are likely relevant in T2D development. For a better elucidation of mechanisms of onset and progression of T2D disease, the group is performing a detailed analysis of the biological processes that occur in the microbiome and human host by longitudinal profiling of patients at risk for T2D. Both microbiome and host profiles are being analyzed by state-of-the-art omics platforms, and these large-scale and diverse data sets will be integrated to determine the dynamic pathways that change during the onset and progression of T2D, especially during viral infections and other stresses. This longitudinal study is expected to reveal changes in the microbiome and host at an unprecedented level of detail, and identify molecules and pathways that play important roles in diabetes onset and progression.</p>
Project description:A longitudinal multi-omics analysis was carried out over a 26-hour small-scale fermentation of B. pertussis. Fermentations were performed in batch mode and under culture conditions intended to mimic industrial processes.
Project description:The gut microbiome has been implicated in multiple human chronic gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. Determining its mechanistic role in disease pathogenesis has been difficult due to the apparent disconnect between animal and human studies and a lack of an integrated multi-omics view in the context of disease-specific physiological changes. We integrated longitudinal multi-omics data from the gut microbiome, metabolome, host epigenome and transcriptome in the context of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) host physiology. We identified IBS subtype-specific and symptom-related variation in microbial composition and function. A subset of identified changes in microbial metabolites correspond to host physiological mechanisms that are relevant to IBS. By integrating multiple data layers, we identified purine metabolism as a novel host-microbial metabolic pathway in IBS with translational potential. Our study highlights the importance of longitudinal sampling and integrating complementary multi-omics data to identify functional mechanisms that can serve as therapeutic targets in a comprehensive treatment strategy for chronic GI diseases.
Project description:Follicular lymphoma (FL) is the most common indolent type of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Advances in treatment have improved overall survival, but early relapse or transformation to aggressive disease is associated with inferior outcome. To identify early genetic events and track tumor clonal evolution, we performed multi-omics analysis of 94 longitudinal biopsies from 44 FL patients; 22 with transformation (tFL) and 22 with relapse without transformation (nFL). Deep whole-exome sequencing confirmed recurrent mutations in genes encoding epigenetic regulators (CREBBP, KMT2D, EZH2, EP300), with similar mutational landscape in nFL and tFL patients. Calculation of genomic distances between longitudinal samples revealed complex evolutionary patterns in both subgroups. CREBBP and KMT2D mutations were identified as genetic events that occur early in the disease course, and cases with CREBBP KAT domain mutations had low risk of transformation. Gains in chromosomes 12 and 18 (TCF4), and loss in 6q were identified as early and stable copy number alterations. Identification of such early and stable genetic events may provide opportunities for early disease detection and disease monitoring. Integrative analysis revealed that tumors with EZH2 mutations exhibited reduced gene expression of numerous histone genes, including histone linker genes. This might contribute to the epigenetic dysregulation in FL.