The human gut microbiome is as unique as a fingerprint. It plays a central role in chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Yet its potential for diagnostics and personalized therapy for patients remains untapped. The MikrobiomProCheck research project aims to change this. To this end, the Leibniz Institute for Analytical Sciences (ISAS), the Universities of Bonn, Bielefeld, and Duisburg-Essen, Biofidus AG, and Lead Discovery Center GmbH are receiving approximately 3.4 million euros from the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia and the European Union.
Despite advances in the treatment of IBD, patients respond to therapy to varying degrees. The majority of those affected suffer from the disease for life. The consequences include a high number of hospitalizations and an increased risk of colorectal cancer. In addition to genetic causes and environmental factors, the gut microbiome plays a crucial role in IBD. It is essential for digestion and nutrient absorption and supports the development of immune cells. In IBD, the gut microbiome becomes unbalanced. Therefore, the key to new, personalized therapies lies precisely in these trillions of organisms in the gut. “To learn more about the diverse role of the microbiome in inflammatory bowel disease and to make these findings available for new treatments, we use AI to analyze data on genes, metabolites, and proteins from the gut microbiome,” explains Prof. Dr. Robert Heyer, head of the ISAS research group Multidimensional Omics Data Analysis and professor of bioinformatics at Bielefeld University. He coordinates MikrobiomProCheck.
New personalized therapies – from the comfort of your own home
Based on molecular data, researchers are developing computer models that shed light on the disease mechanisms underlying IBD and thus provide valuable insights for new treatment strategies. The research project also involves the development of a digital infrastructure: a new database is intended to enable drug-microbiome screening, allowing medications and dietary protocols to be tailored specifically to each patient’s individual gut microbiome and enabling treatment predictions.
Ideally, both the course of the disease and the therapy should eventually be monitored without the need for colonoscopies. Patients could collect stool samples at home for this purpose. This would not only be advantageous in rural areas with few medical practices but would also reduce the overall number of doctor visits and ease the burden on the healthcare system
Statewide Collaboration in North Rhine-Westphalia: Research Meets Biotechnology
MikrobiomProCheck is a broad-based, interdisciplinary research project in North Rhine-Westphalia: For example, the University Hospital Essen (UK Essen: Prof. Dr. Claudia Veltkamp) and the Evangelische Klinikum Bethel – University Hospital OWL of Bielefeld University (Prof. Dr. Eckard Hamelmann, Dr. Patricia Maasjosthusmann) are overseeing the study involving ten young and 100 adult IBD patients, as well as an equal number of healthy participants. Biofidus AG and ISAS (Prof. Dr. Albert Sickmann) are conducting the molecular analyses of the stool samples. The analysis of the interactions between the microbiome and the immune system is being conducted at the University Hospital Essen (Prof. Dr. Astrid Westendorf, Dr. Alexandra Mekes-Adamczyk). Lead Discovery Center GmbH is developing a screening method to investigate the interactions between therapeutic agents and the gut microbiome. ISAS (Prof. Dr. Robert Heyer), the Universities of Bonn (Prof. Dr. Martin Hofmann-Apitius, Institute of Computer Science; Prof. Dr. Marie-Christine Simon, ImmunoSensation3 and Steering Committee TRA “Life&Health,” Dr. Alpha Tom Kodamullil) and Bielefeld (Prof. Dr. Alexander Sczyrba, Dr. Tobias Busche) are jointly dedicated to AI-based microbiome analyses and are responsible for establishing the digital infrastructure.
