Development of New Targeted Prebiotic Approaches for Optimizing the Human Intestinal Microbiota

Supervisors: Prof H Flint & Dr S Duncan (University of Aberdeen) and Dr D Bosscher & Dr G Falony (Cargill)

The microbial communities of the human intestine play an important role in nutrient supply and in maintaining health. Researchers at the Rowett Institute of Nutrition & Health at the University of Aberdeen have isolated many dominant bacterial colonisers of the healthy human colon, including species recently identified as being potentially beneficial for health. This BBSRC Case PhD studentship will exploit this knowledge of gut microbial ecology and the microbial utilisation of diet-derived polysaccharides to define new approaches for promoting specific groups of bacteria, whilst at the same time suppressing potential pathogens. Genomic and microbiological approaches will be used to investigate the substrate preferences of isolated strains of human intestinal bacteria with respect to plant cell wall polysaccharides. The project relates to the interest of the commercial partner (Cargill) in prebiotic effects of food components and by-products. The student will work largely within the Microbiology group at the Rowett Institute of Nutrition & Health in Aberdeen, but will also benefit from a placement at the Cargill R&D headquarters in Belgium. Here they will benefit scientifically from access to facilities and expertise in the chemical analysis of food components and will learn about project management in a commercial environment, through involvement on a new EU-funded project that includes both the commercial and academic partner.