This week we profile a recent publication in Nature Communications from the laboratory of Dr. Yang-Yu
Liu (pictured) in the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Can you provide a brief overview of your lab’s current research focus?
My lab is currently developing novel computational methods to understand the ecology of the human microbiome, leveraging tools from community ecology, network science, and machine learning.
What is the significance of the findings in this publication?
In this paper, we presented an ecological framework to understand the efficacy of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in treating conditions associated with a disrupted gut microbiota, using the recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI) as a prototype disease. This framework predicts several key factors that determine the efficacy of FMT. Moreover, it offers an efficient algorithm for the rational design of personalized probiotic cocktails to decolonize pathogens.
What are the next steps for this research?
For the next step, we plan to work with clinicians to develop personalized probiotic cocktails for the prevention and treatment of rCDI.
This work was funded by:
Research reported in this publication was supported by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under award number R01AI141529.
