Current Research

One of the most ambitious of these studies is REIMAGINE—a large-scale effort to understand the small bowel microbiome for the first time. Since the small intestine is the absorbing surface, elements that bacteria produce here are more likely to be absorbed and impact health. Currently, MAST is conducting a REIMAGINE clinical trial to understand how microorganisms in the gut affect individuals and how they may contribute to gut-related human diseases.

REIMAGINE publications:

• Analysis of the Small Intestinal Microbiome Reveals Marked Differences from Stool Microbiome in a Large Scale Human Cohort: Redefining the “Gut Microbiome”
• Deep Sequencing of the Entire Human Small Intestine: A Comparison to Stool Microbiome in the Reimagine Study

The MAST team is also taking a closer look at the relationships among M. smithii, weight and metabolism by exploring whether the use of a nonabsorbable antibiotic—one that stays solely in the gastrointestinal tract and targets methanogens—can either attenuate weight gain or enhance weight loss in a group of animals on a high-fat diet.

The hope of the MAST team is that these studies lead to the development of a growing series of discoveries and potential microbiome-based treatments.

Small Intestine Aspirate Tool
Tools are needed for evaluating the human microbiome, and numerous challenges have needed to be overcome to study the microbiome of the small intestine. One challenge has been that the amount of fluid that can be aspirated from this area is limited. Typical catheters are contaminated as they traverse the endoscope through which these samples are obtained. In collaboration with Hobbs Medical, Cedars-Sinai scientists have developed a novel system for quickly and easily obtaining small intestine aspirates. This new system will become integral to the study of the small intestine in relationship to the microbiome.