Archaea

• ERS Genomics Limited (‘ERS’), the CRISPR licensing Company, and IRBM, a leader in the field of drug discovery, today announced a non-exclusive CRISPR/Cas9 license agreement.
• The agreement grants IRBM access to ERS’ CRISPR/Cas9 patent portfolio.
• IRBM is a drug discovery CRO with expertise ranging from target validation and hit finding to preclinical candidate nomination across various therapeutic areas, including oncology, infectious diseases, and neuroscience.
• ERS Genomics licenses these patents via its direct license from Emmanuelle Charpentier and now has nearly 150 licenses in place worldwide.

• Research has shown that changes to the composition and diversity of the microorganisms in the gut may explain these differences in immune system aging.
• However, as the composition of our gut microbiome changes with age, a low level of inflammation can become constant throughout the body.
• Let’s take a closer look at the gut microbiome and how it changes with age.

Gut microbiome imbalances in older adults

• In fact, compared to other parts of the body, the gut microbiome has the largest number of bacteria.
• In a healthy gut microbiome, there are four dominant families (or phyla) of microorganisms, including Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria.
• Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes make up around 80 to 90 per cent of the gut microbiota in the digestive tract.
• Over time, the shortage of beneficial bacteria such as Firmicutes in older adults starts to compromise the integrity of their intestinal barrier, causing it to become leaky.

How inflammaging works

• Inflammaging creates an environment that is prone to inflammation, which is caused and maintained by several factors.
• These can include microorganism imbalances in the intestines (microbial dysbiosis), psychological stress, physical inactivity, poor nutrition and chronic infections.

Maintaining a healthy balance of gut microbiota

• More specifically, probiotics help improve the function of the intestinal barrier and regulate immune responses by modifying the composition of the gut microbiome.
• It is clear that the immune system has an intricate relationship with the gut microbiome.
• A healthy and well-balanced gut microbiome will strengthen the intestinal barrier, which helps to reduce inflammation throughout the body and support the immune system.
• To achieve this, it is important to maintain a healthy and well-balanced lifestyle as we grow older.

Narveen Jandu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• Phase Genomics, Inc. , a leading innovator at the forefront of genomics technology development, today announced $1.5MM in new funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fuel a new antimicrobial discovery platform.
• The foundation of this effort rests on Phase Genomics’ proprietary global phage atlas, developed with support from the Gates Foundation and the NIH.
• Under this project, Phase Genomics will deploy its platform to develop antimicrobial agents that bypass resistance against Campylobacter infections and methanogenic archaea in ruminants that drive global methane emissions.
• Follow Phase Genomics on X and LinkedIn for the latest news and information.

• Research over recent years also suggests our gut bacteria may have a role in helping us maintain our brain health as we age.
• My own preliminary research suggests one gut bug in particular called Asaccharobacter celatus (A celatus) could be useful.

Cognitive impairment and dementia

• Worryingly, this often progresses to more severe impairment of brain function known as dementia.
• Dementia affects more than 55 million people around the world, and projections suggest this number will increase to 82 million by 2030.

How gut bacteria could help

• The bacteria in our gut perform functions that benefit our overall health.
• A celatus, along with certain other bacteria, is capable of producing a compound known as equol.
• These bacteria make equol from a compound called daidzein, which is found in soy products including soy milk, tofu and tempeh.

• In many cases, we can influence the make-up of our gut bacteria through our diet, and this appears to be true for A celatus.
• Read more:
  Gut bacteria rewind ageing brain in mice

  However, other research has shown consumption of soy foods in the diet has no effect on cognitive function.

• All this suggests that, alongside the bacteria, we already have in our gut microbiome, what we eat could be equally important.

My research

• This relates to complex cognitive tasks we perform daily, including doing maths in our head, or reorganising the day’s tasks in our mind when something unexpectedly changes.
• This research appears promising, but we need more evidence to confirm the potential benefits of both A celatus bacteria and soy foods in helping older people maintain their brain health as they age.
• Each week we will look at a different microbe and bring you the most up-to-date research on them.

• Nathan Nuzum currently works at University College Cork as part of APC Microbiome and receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the INSPIRE COFUND Marie Skłodowska Curie grant agreement No.
• The unpublished/original work referred to in this article was conducted at Deakin University as part of Dr. Nathan Nuzum's PhD.
• Dr. Nuzum's PhD supervisors for this work includes his primary supervisor Dr. Helen Macpherson, and his co-supervisors (in alphabetical order) Drs.