Prof. Erkin Seker's Team Awarded NIH R21 Grant

Please join us in congratulating Prof. Erkin Şeker in collaboration with Prof. Maria Marco (Food Science and Technology) and Prof. Helen Reybould (School of Veterinary Medicine) receives a National Institutes of Health R21 award, titled "A Microfabricated Model of Enteric Epithelium-Neuron Interaction for Studying the Influence of Bacterial Metabolites," funded by National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health conducts and supports research and provides information about complementary health products and practices.

The human gastrointestinal tract is colonized by a large and diverse population of bacteria and other microorganisms that are positive health assets needed for normal neural and immune development, nutrition, and metabolism. However, knowledge on the specific molecules made by intestinal bacteria that are causative for either the promotion or detriment of human health is critically lacking. This two-year award bridges microfabrication technology, microbiology, and gastrointestinal-/neurophysiology to establish a novel platform for identifying microbial metabolites that signal to gut sensory neurons via interaction with the intestinal epithelium.

The project is detailed HERE