Publicaties
Bacterial pathogens in Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra-negative sputum samples of patients with presumptive tuberculosis in a high TB burden setting Universiteit Antwerpen
In patients with presumptive tuberculosis (TB) in whom the diagnosis of TB was excluded, understanding the bacterial etiology of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) is important for optimal patient management. A secondary analysis was performed on a cohort of 250 hospitalized patients with symptoms of TB. Bacterial DNA was extracted from sputum samples for Illumina 16S rRNA sequencing to identify bacterial species based on amplicon ...
Engineering green wall botanical biofiltration to abate indoor volatile organic compounds Universiteit Antwerpen
Indoor air pollution affects the global population, especially in developed countries where people spend around 90% of their time indoors. The recent pandemic exacerbated the exposure by relying on indoor spaces and a teleworking lifestyle. VOCs are a group of indoor air pollutants with harmful effects on human health at low concentrations. It is widespread that plants can remove indoor VOCs. To this day, research has combined principles of ...
Antibacterial and immunostimulatory activity of potential probiotic lactic acid bacteria isolated from Ethiopian fermented dairy products Universiteit Antwerpen
Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) form a group of bacteria to which most probiotics belong and are commonly found in fermented dairy products. Fermented foods and beverages are foods made through desired microbial growth and enzymatic conversions of food components. In this study, 43 LAB were isolated from Ethiopian traditional cottage cheese, cheese, and yogurt and evaluated for their functional and safety properties as candidate probiotics. ...
Lactiplantibacillus carotarum AMBF275T sp. nov. isolated from carrot juice fermentation Universiteit Antwerpen
A novel strain of the genus Lactiplantibacillus, named AMBF275T, was isolated from fermented carrot juice, a salted fermented beverage dominated by lactic acid bacteria. The results of phylogenetic analysis indicated that the 16S rRNA gene of AMBF275T is most similar to the 16S rRNA gene of Lactiplantibacillus garii FI11369T with a sequence similarity of 99.4 %. However, a genome- wide comparison using average nucleotide identity (ANI) revealed ...
Characterization of potential probiotic starter cultures of lactic acid bacteria isolated from Ethiopian fermented cereal beverages, Naaqe, and Cheka Universiteit Antwerpen
Aims To test the in vitro probiotic potential and starter culture capacity of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from Naaqe and Cheka, cereal-based Ethiopian traditional fermented beverages.Methods and results A total of 44 strains were isolated from spontaneously fermented Ethiopian cereal-based beverages, Naaqe and Cheka with 24 putatively identified as LAB and 14 identified up to the species level. The species Limosilactobacillus fermentum ...
Questioning the fetal microbiome illustrates pitfalls of low-biomass microbial studies Universiteit Antwerpen KU Leuven Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie
Whether the human fetus and the prenatal intrauterine environment (amniotic fluid and placenta) are stably colonized by microbial communities in a healthy pregnancy remains a subject of debate. Here we evaluate recent studies that characterized microbial populations in human fetuses from the perspectives of reproductive biology, microbial ecology, bioinformatics, immunology, clinical microbiology and gnotobiology, and assess possible mechanisms ...
Leaf side determines the relative importance of dispersal versus host filtering in the phyllosphere microbiome Universiteit Antwerpen
Leaves harbor distinct microbial communities that can have an important impact on plant health and microbial ecosystems worldwide. Nevertheless, the ecological processes that shape the composition of leaf microbial communities remain unclear, with previous studies reporting contradictory results regarding the importance of bacterial dispersal versus host selection. This discrepancy could be driven in part because leaf microbiome studies ...
Influence of biotic interventions on the immune response to vaccines in young and older adults Universiteit Antwerpen
Vaccination is the most effective way to confer potent and long-term protection from infectious diseases. However, poorer responses to immunization are common in young adults with sub-optimal immune health and the elderly because of immunosenescence and increased comorbidities. Recent mechanistic studies have highlighted that the microbiota and its compounds modulate many molecular pathways that can influence the host immune system. ...
Lactobacillus isalae sp. nov., isolated from the female reproductive tract Universiteit Antwerpen
A novel strain of the genus Lactobacillus, named AMBV1719T, was isolated from the vagina of a healthy participant in our largescale citizen science project on the female microbiome, named Isala. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the 16S rRNA gene of AMBV1719T is most similar to that of Lactobacillus taiwanensis with a sequence similarity of 99.873 %. However, a genome- wide comparison using average nucleotide identity (ANI) revealed that isolate ...