Developing an Integrated Approach to Modelling Digestive Processes

这项研究计划是基于教职员工的共同兴趣，将营养学、食品生物物理学、化学和微生物学的消化方法结合起来，以改善人类营养和食品安全。核心团队包括食品科学系最近招聘的两名教授(G.LaPointe和M.Rogers)和A.Wright博士(人类健康和营养科学系人类营养研究单位主任)，他们可以使用所要求的设备为学生提供跨学科培训。这一平台将能够模拟消化过程中微生物-食物的相互作用，能够通过基因组学和代谢组学测量食品纳米结构的变化如何影响微生物的存在和活动。这项研究将有助于开发新的食品配料、营养食品和确保其在乳制品和其他食品中的稳定性的方法。该团队将能够研究微生物的适应以及与肠道沙门氏菌和单核细胞增生性李斯特菌等污染病原体的相互作用。该设备对于研究食品病原体在加工和消化压力下的基因组变异将是非常有价值的，这些基因组变异可能有助于超强毒力，确定食源性疾病暴发的严重程度。在研究消化对食物结构的影响和食物病原体适应肠道微生物区系的分子分析方面，加拿大没有其他项目具有独特的专业组合。该计划将为进行体外肠道建模提供比较数据和协调的指导方针，并改进选择最适合所追求目标的模型的决策过程。所要求的设备是对动态模拟胃肠道系统(TNO TIM1)的高度兼容和补充，该系统是通过最近授予罗杰斯博士的CFI奖获得的，罗杰斯博士因模拟上胃肠道而没有任何微生物群。TIM1位于一个不是生物安全2级的设施中，并且没有能力对肠道微生物区系进行建模。目前迫切需要验证可用于胃肠道建模的不同方法，包括上层组件和下层组件。ProDigest TWINSHIME的优势在于，它是一个完整的GI系统，在微生物区系存在的情况下，在较长的时间内模拟胃、小肠和三个结肠室。罗杰斯、拉庞特和赖特将结合他们的专业知识，验证静态和动态模拟胃肠道系统的特定模型，以便为模拟消化的最佳实践提供指导。这种合作将导致设计新的功能食品，并通过食品成分提供对肠道微生物区系的循证调节，以改善营养和食品安全结果。

This research program is based on the common interests of faculty members to integrate nutrition, food biophysics, chemistry and microbiology approaches to digestion in order to improve human nutrition and food safety. The core team includes two recently recruited professors (G. LaPointe and M. Rogers) of the Department of Food Science and Dr. A. Wright (director, Human Nutraceutical Research Unit, Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences) who can provide transdisciplinary training for students using the requested equipment. This platform will enable the modelling of microbial-food interactions during digestion, with the ability to measure how changes in food nanostructure impact microbial presence and activity through genomics and metabolomics. This research will help develop new food ingredients, nutraceuticals and approaches to ensuring their stability in dairy products and other foods. The team will be able to study microbial adaptation and interactions with contaminating pathogens such as Salmonella enterica and Listeria monocytogenes. The equipment will be invaluable to study the genomic variation of food pathogens undergoing the stress of processing and digestion, which could contribute to hypervirulence, determining severity of foodborne disease outbreaks. No other Canadian program features the unique combination of expertise for studying the impact of digestion on food structure and molecular analysis of food pathogen adaptation to gut microbiota. This program will lead to comparative data and harmonised guidelines for conducting in vitro gut modelling, with improved decision-making processes for selection of the model that is most appropriate for the objective being pursued. The requested equipment is highly compatible and complementary to the dynamic simulated gastrointestinal system (TNO TIM1) that has been acquired through a recent CFI award to Dr. Rogers for simulating the upper gastrointestinal tract, without any microbiota. The TIM1 is located in a facility that is not biosafety level 2 and does not have the capability to model the gut microbiota. There is an urgent need at this time to validate the different approaches available for gastrointestinal modelling, both upper and lower components. The advantage of the ProDigest TWINSHIME is that it is a complete GI system modelling the stomach, small intestine and three colon compartments, over longer periods in the presence of microbiota. Rogers, LaPointe, and Wright will combine their expertise to validate specific models of static and dynamic simulated gastrointestinal systems, in order to provide guidelines for best practices in modelling digestion. This collaboration will lead to the design of new functional foods and provide evidence-based modulation of the gut microbiota through food components, for improved nutrition and food safety outcomes.