Potential therapeutic effects of engineered Clostridium STp products on immune activity

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The microbiota, which includes >1000 bacterial species in the intestine, has a profound effect on health. Abnormal immune responses to gut bacteria drive inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a chronic inflammatory condition which has increased in incidence in the UK to around 300,000. Symptoms, including diarrhoea, cramps, pain, fatigue, weight loss and anaemia, are distressing and current treatments frequently fail. There is a need for novel disease-modifying treatments. The APRG laboratory at Imperial has discovered and patented a molecule called STp, derived from a probiotic bacterium present in the gut, and generated preliminary evidence that it can inhibit or prevent gut inflammation. CHAIN biotech are a new company that has developed a novel way of delivering therapeutic substances directly to the gut by engineering safe probiotic bacteria. This technology has the potential to result in efficient new treatments for a range of gut diseases. This project will be a collaboration between APRG and CHAIN, bringing together the immunological expertise of APRG academics with the technical and product development expertise of CHAIN biotech. The aim of the project is to test the potential therapeutic effects of STp produced by an engineered bacteria on gut immune activity. Proprietary test materials will be studied for their effect on immune cells (Year 1), their imprint on immunity in health vs disease (Year 2) and their therapeutic effects on inflammatory disease (Year 3). The student will gain knowledge of immunology, molecular biology, biotherapeutic product development and the potential of the microbiome to improve human health.