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Supervisor:

Prof. Dr. Susanne Hartmann

Lab Adress:

Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Immunology, Centre for Infection Medicine, Robert von Ostertag-Str. 7, D-14163 Berlin

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Project description:

Intestinal worms live in an environment with millions of bacteria in the intestines of their hosts. The project aims to understand whether and how intestinal roundworms cooperate with, combat, or exploit the bacterial intestinal environment. So far, we found that i) roundworms release products with antimicrobial activity, ii) regardless of the intensity of infection, they reduce the diversity of the host microbiome at the site of infection, and iii) the bacteria detected in the parasite's intestine originate from the host's intestine. In addition, roundworms were found to release bioactive metabolites (short-chain fatty acids).

Based on these findings, the project will focus on the functions of these bioactive metabolites of the worms and their modulation of host cells. State-of-the-art techniques such as mass spectrometry, fluorescence-activated cell sorting, and next-generation sequencing will be applied. Samples for analysis will be obtained from pig and chicken studies in Germany and, in parallel, from a study in an Ascaris endemic area in Kenya.

In summary, the project will analyse the mechanisms of bioactive metabolites from roundworms across species boundaries.

References: 1) Midha et al. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2018; 2) Midha et al. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 2) Midha et al. Microbiome 2022.