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Publication

Environmental and host effects on infant gut microbiome development

Book - Dissertation

The human gut microbiota is a complex ecosystem comprising bacteria, archaea, viruses, fungi and parasites, that is influenced by both host genetics and external factors such as diet and environment. Humans are born with an essentially sterile gut and directly after birth microbiota start to progressively colonise the gut. Knowing that the gut microbiota is implicated in several diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, intestinal cancers, obesity, diabetes, allergies and rheumatoid arthritis, the initiation of this symbiosis early in life is of crucial importance to achieve and maintain optimal health later in life. My PhD project has two main aims. The first aim is to perform a detailed investigation of the acquisition dynamics of the human gut microbiota across all its kingdoms (bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites) during the first year of life as well as their trans-kingdom interaction. The second aim is to study the effects of host and external factors such as diet change, antibiotic intake, occurrence of disease, change in environment and vaccination on the gut microbiota composition and diversity during the first year of life. This study will create crucial baseline information about the colonisation patterns in healthy and diseased infants and how external factors influence the composition of the microbiota.
Publication year:2020
Accessibility:Open