by Konstantina Zafeiropoulou
Crohn’s disease is an immune-mediated disease without a cure. While current guideline-based therapies are immune-directed therapies (small molecules and biologics), recent advances in understanding how the gut microbiome changes precede and drive disease offer potential for developing personalized therapeutics.
by Konstantina Zafeiropoulou
An international collaboration of scientists identified 248 viral families in nappy samples, 232 of which were never described before. Acknowledged for their contribution, these babies will be forever registered in the virome databases, as the scientists named the new families after their first names.
by Konstantina Zafeiropoulou
The Digestive Disease Week meeting 2023 covered a considerable variety of basic, translational, and clinical aspects of research in gastrointestinal and extraintestinal human health and disease. This post highlights the major takeaways from the Microbiome & Microbial Therapy sessions and unravels how they might impact daily basic research and clinical practice (part 2).
by Andreu Prados, Konstantina Zafeiropoulou
The DDW meeting 2023 covered a huge variety of basic, translational and clinical aspects of research in gastrointestinal and extraintestinal human health and disease. This post highlights the major-takeaways from the Microbiome & Microbial Therapy sessions and unravels how they might impact daily basic research and clinical practice (part 1).
by Konstantina Zafeiropoulou
Following the GMFH 2022 Year at a Glance report, it is time for a flashback in the latest research on cancer microbiome. This post ranges between the epidemiology, etiology and diagnosis of cancer, looking at the role of fungal and bacterial gut microbiome in all three health care branches.
by Konstantina Zafeiropoulou
Just one month before friends and families gather around the Christmas table, November is here to bring awareness around Clostridioides difficile infection, and the importance of microbiota-derived treatments. With this post, all of us in GMFH aim to highlight the importance of protecting ourselves and families and stopping the spread of this potentially deadly infection.
Research into microbial extracellular vesicles has progressed significantly over several decades. Following up on the 1989 breakthrough that bacterial extracellular vesicles contain genetic information, and the recent ISAPP definition on postbiotics, current research suggests bacterial extracellular vesicles derived from probiotic bacteria may be the postbiotics of the future with potential health benefits.
by Konstantina Zafeiropoulou
The first 2-3 years of life are crucial for shaping childhood health. Amid others, the importance of early-life gut microbiota in infant’s development and later human health has been long speculated. In particular, bifidobacteria are playing an essential role in infant’s gut microbiota and immune system maturation that supports its probiotic use in that age span.
In Western world, the incidence of autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases has been significantly increasing and also the use of non-antibiotic drugs for their treatment. Scientists at EMBL and Cambridge University elucidate how common drugs accumulate in gut bacteria and potentially reduce medication’s effectiveness.
by Konstantina Zafeiropoulou
Fermented foods, such as yogurt, kefir, kimchi and kombucha, have gained increasing popularity on the market shelves and consumers’ basket. Scientists at Stanford University elucidate how fermented foods may alter gut microbiota profile and reduce inflammatory markers.
