Week 7: Engineering the Gut Microbiome
Hand and mouth samples
Clear silicon block with lasercut microfluidic channel
Threading the tube
The complete device
Seeing it flow:
Homework
(i) Probiotics
Pros: Friendly and easy to consume.
Cons: Hard to get it deep into intestines. Bacteria must be resistant to stomach acid.
(ii) Fecal Transplant
Pros: Shown to be an effective treatment for many conditions such as C. Difficile but also including depression. Can effectively replace gut microbiota with imported culture.
Cons: invasive procedure, people find it a bit icky. Needs anti-microbial therapy
(iii) Prebiotics
Pros: encouraging microflora and food for gut microbiota, can be used to selectively grow certain organisms.
Cons: Bloating and fermentation in the stomach. Causal relationship has not been established, mostly limited to influencing Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus.
(iv) Sterile Fecal Filtrate Transfer: similar to fecal transplant but of genetic material and bacterial debris without living cultures.
Pros: can be effective for C. Difficile sufferers to restore normal stool behaviour, especially promising for immuno-compromised patients. Cons: Not as effective as a replacement of microbiota than importing living organisms.