Scientists explore role of gut microbiome in Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a form of dementia that affects memory, thinking and behavior

Scientists are taking a variety of approaches to studying Alzheimer's disease, one of which is exploring how microbes in the human digestive system affect brain function

Through a $418,000 R21 grant from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Assistant Professor Emily Cope, Associate Professor Greg Caporaso, and Professor Egbert Schwartz recently began a collaboration on "Development of Quantitative Stable Isotope Probing in vivo to Quantify Alzheimer's Sea" Microbial dynamics in silent disease

A key feature of AD is two abnormal structures in the brain

Through their research to further understand gut microbiome dynamics and its relationship to AD progression and neuroinflammation, the team will employ quantitative stable isotope probing (qSIP), a novel technique widely used in environmental microbiome science

"Our goal was to use techniques developed in soil microbial ecology (qSIP) to understand the dynamics of the microbiome in the health sciences," Cope said

This is why qSIP is so important

"We also wondered whether this approach was a better predictor of amyloid plaque abundance and tauopathy than standard microbiome sequencing methods

Research team will apply findings to chronic sinusitis, asthma and cystic fibrosis

As the study's principal investigator, Cope's specialty is host-associated microbiology

"My team's research focuses on the role of the microbiome in chronic and progressive disease

"This project is a natural extension of this area of ​​research, as the gut microbiota can influence the health or disease state of other organs by signaling, activating immune responses and producing molecules that can enter the bloodstream

"We've learned a lot over the past few years and applied it to this project," Cope said

Collaboration involves teams of faculty, staff and student researchers

In this highly collaborative project, PhD student Emily Borsom will lead in vivo testing with PhD student Kathryn Conn and undergraduate student Daisy Barroso

Co-investigator Capolaso, an expert in microbiome research or computing in microbiome bioinformatics, is director of PMI's Center for Applied Microbiome Science

"This project provides a powerful opportunity to elucidate the functional relationship between gut microbes and Alzheimer's disease traits,

Co-investigator Schwartz is an expert in microbial ecology who developed quantitative stable isotope probing (qSIP) and has extensive experience applying the technique in soil microbiology

"The qSIP technique was developed at Northern Arizona University and was used for the first time to quantify bacterial growth rates in forest soil near Flagstaff," Schwartz said
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"We are very excited to extend these techniques to microbes in mice.
communities, and address important questions in medical microbiology
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"

Arizona Alzheimer's Association Critical to Team Study's Success

"In 2019, Greg Capolazo and I were invited to join the Arizona Alzheimer's Association (AAC)," Cope said.
"
This statewide network of researchers, led by Dr.
Eric Reiman, has been the subject of our research.
Key supporters, as well as institutional matching funds
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The goal of the AAC is to advance research into the scientific understanding and early detection of Alzheimer's disease
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This network is critical to our success in entering the highly competitive field of AD research
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The source of our findings Thanks to their support, we are now preparing for publication, which is the basis of the NIH/NIA R21 award
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"