Call for papers! Diptaraj Chaudhari, PhD and I are the guest editor for this special issue in Frontiers in Physiology

🦠 Topic: Distal Impacts of the Gut #Microbiome on Human #Health and #Disease

🦠 Studies that explore the distal impact of the gut microbiome

🦠 Deadline: March 31, 2023

RT

Delighted to share our review on 'Advancing human gut microbiota by considering gut transit time' published in Gut Journal (open access)! Huge efforts by Nicola Prochazkova👏🍾in great collab. with RaesLab and Tine Licht.
Funders Novo Nordisk Foundation and DK Frie Forsk.fond!🙏
gut.bmj.com/content/early/…

A mechanism (in mice) for how dietary factors lead to metabolic disease:

The SUGAR in the 'Western' diet shifted gut microbes to reduce their production of Th17 cells, which regulate fat uptake -- increasing the host's susceptibility to metabolic disease.
cell.com/cell/fulltext/…

RT Kristina Campbell, microbiome science writer:
How exactly are we going to tackle infectious diseases in the future?
Here's my attempt to articulate why it's essential to move beyond the concept of 'pathogen', and instead think about 'microbial relationships': online.flippingbook.com/view/773676266…

🤯Oh hi, thank you authors, I'll just be over here picking up little pieces of my brain after it exploded.
⬇️

🎉🎉A Special Interview with Inuit Scientist- Dr. Aviaja Hauptmann, PhD about the article 'Better understanding of food and human #microbiomes through collaborative research on #Inuit #fermentedfoods '
oaepublish.com/mrr/about/news…

View more details: 👇
oaepublish.com/mrr/about/news…
Maria Marco

Kristina Campbell, microbiome science writer reports on the significance of last week's positive FDA vote and the implications on the global #microbiome therapeutics industry.
microbiometimes.com/a-microbiome-t…

Here's a summary published on The Microbiome Times with commentary on some of the main issues:
➡️How this affects investment in microbiome therapeutics
➡️The timeline compared to Europe
➡️Ongoing attention to safety
microbiometimes.com/a-microbiome-t…

I should add: the actual biologics license application (BLA) for RBX2660 is still under review with the FDA. In determining market approval, they consider this committee's input, but are not bound by it.

Nevertheless it's looking very positive.

This is a first. It's the closest a microbiome-focused therapy has ever come to the market... and reaching patients who cannot get, or won't get, or won't benefit from FMT.

There are more therapies following closely on this one.
Should be an exciting time ahead for this field 🤩

The efficacy question? Approved by 13 / 17 committee members.

The safety question? Approved by 12 / 17 committee members.

Approved.

So it seemed committee members were faced with some okay data but a VERY clear message about the need for better treatment options.

Then came the vote. I was live-streaming the meeting, and I was literally on the edge of my seat with my heart pounding.

But after that...
the patients spoke. Several people shared their personal horror stories of recurrent C. difficile, including such anecdotes as:
'Chained to the toilet'
'Lost 3 years of my life'
'The toll it took on me and my family was enormous'
😥

Committee members spent a long while discussing the data presented by the company for safety & efficacy. The data weren't convincing to all of the committee members -- they called the trials 'imperfect'.
But perhaps necessarily imperfect, given difficulties with recruitment, etc.