Multi-omics approaches, including metagenomics and meta-transcriptomics, have revolutionized our understanding of the vast diversity of the human microbiome, as well as its direct and indirect roles in human health.
Despite the enormous advances in the field accomplished thanks to the multi-omics methods, in-vitro and in-vivo analyses that assess the validity of results and predictions drown from omics analyses are more necessary than ever. In combination, in silico and in vitro or in vivo analysis will help us portray the microbial implications in the host, including effect at the metabolic and immunological levels and associations to disease.
In this Research Topic, we would be looking for especially for methodological approaches to study microbial functions and microbiome-host interactions.
We welcome the submission of manuscripts, but not limited to, the following topics:
1. Study of pre-, pro- and synbiotics in vitro such as:
• Probiotic properties (resistance to acid pH, bile acids, adherence to epithelium, etc) and anti-pathogen inhibitory properties of probiotic bacterial cells or their supernatants and molecular components in vitro. Besides strains characterization, simulated gastrointestinal conditions or 3D functional models of the human intestinal tract offer an insight into strains survival capabilities to passage through the intestinal tract.
• Effect of prebiotic components on bacterial communities and characterizing the effect of synbiotics that can be applied as therapeutics.
2. In vitro cell models to study host-microbial interactions such as:
• Exposure of intestinal cell lines (Caco-2 or similar) to pathogenic bacteria.
• Co-infection of human cell lines with pathogenic bacteria and probiotic strains to study their protective effect against infection or potential modulatory effects on mucosal innate responses and anti-inflammatory functions, 3D models of to investigate the crosstalk between cells and microbes.
• Transwell systems.
3. Development or use of complex intestinal models to study host-microbiome interactions
In vitro complex intestinal models to study immune responses to bacterial exposure or their compounds
4. In vitro models to study biofilm formation
5. Single-cell approaches such as:
Flow cytometry and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) allow individual microbial cells to be quantified and sorted following specific criteria before additional characterization (i.e. bacterial viability, immunoreactivity, microbial changes in response to drug exposure, etc).
6. Mutant bacterial strains to study genetic traits involved in host interactions
7. Animal testing of models of disease with a microbial component and infection
Multi-omics approaches, including metagenomics and meta-transcriptomics, have revolutionized our understanding of the vast diversity of the human microbiome, as well as its direct and indirect roles in human health.
Despite the enormous advances in the field accomplished thanks to the multi-omics methods, in-vitro and in-vivo analyses that assess the validity of results and predictions drown from omics analyses are more necessary than ever. In combination, in silico and in vitro or in vivo analysis will help us portray the microbial implications in the host, including effect at the metabolic and immunological levels and associations to disease.
In this Research Topic, we would be looking for especially for methodological approaches to study microbial functions and microbiome-host interactions.
We welcome the submission of manuscripts, but not limited to, the following topics:
1. Study of pre-, pro- and synbiotics in vitro such as:
• Probiotic properties (resistance to acid pH, bile acids, adherence to epithelium, etc) and anti-pathogen inhibitory properties of probiotic bacterial cells or their supernatants and molecular components in vitro. Besides strains characterization, simulated gastrointestinal conditions or 3D functional models of the human intestinal tract offer an insight into strains survival capabilities to passage through the intestinal tract.
• Effect of prebiotic components on bacterial communities and characterizing the effect of synbiotics that can be applied as therapeutics.
2. In vitro cell models to study host-microbial interactions such as:
• Exposure of intestinal cell lines (Caco-2 or similar) to pathogenic bacteria.
• Co-infection of human cell lines with pathogenic bacteria and probiotic strains to study their protective effect against infection or potential modulatory effects on mucosal innate responses and anti-inflammatory functions, 3D models of to investigate the crosstalk between cells and microbes.
• Transwell systems.
3. Development or use of complex intestinal models to study host-microbiome interactions
In vitro complex intestinal models to study immune responses to bacterial exposure or their compounds
4. In vitro models to study biofilm formation
5. Single-cell approaches such as:
Flow cytometry and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) allow individual microbial cells to be quantified and sorted following specific criteria before additional characterization (i.e. bacterial viability, immunoreactivity, microbial changes in response to drug exposure, etc).
6. Mutant bacterial strains to study genetic traits involved in host interactions
7. Animal testing of models of disease with a microbial component and infection