Research Excellence

The microbial consortium in the gut is considered as a "forgotten organ" as emerging evidence has implied its important role in human health. Microbial interactions in the gut are mediated by dietary substrates, understanding the factors that guide microbiome development and composition is important to determine its role in health and in the intervention of the gut microbiome as a therapeutic tool.

Dr Chiou Jiachi, Amber, Assistant Professor of the Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, has been working on gut microbes, particularly the beneficial microorganisms, to find out their potential roles on metabolic syndromes and infant health.

Experiments are conducted on animals with metabolic syndrome, including essential hypertension and diet-induced hypertension. Robust dynamic relations have been found between the bacteria and metabolic response, suggesting that alterations in microbial composition, abundance, and activities in the gut were mainly explained by metabolic interactions.

Besides, mother-infant cohorts have been recruited to explore the potential roles of breastfeeding and selection of formula supplemented with probiotics and/or prebiotics on the development of the infant gut microbiome. Dr Chiou's experiments also include studying the impact of early life nutrition on the development of the infant gut microbiome.

As a result, anti-inflammatory effects were found suggesting that the re-balancing of microbial groups in human's gastrointestinal tract can lead to the treatment or improvement of metabolic syndrome while the high abundance of immune-modulating bacteria in the gut may help with the immune system development of infants.

Though it is still in progress, her study helps us to understand more on how microbial consortium is vital in human health including immune response, metabolic development, and neurological homeostasis. Her findings will also contribute to the solution of some metabolic diseases such as hypertension or even obesity.

腸道菌群對人體健康的影響

越來越多證據顯示腸道微生物群與人體健康有著密切的關係，有人因此稱它們為「被遺忘的器官」。食物可調節腸道微生物之間的相互作用，假如要找出微生物群對人體的健康上起著什麼作用，以及如何調節腸道微生物群以達到治療效果，我們便必須先了解可影響微生物群發展和組成的因素。

應用生物及化學科技學系助理教授邱家琪博士一直從事與腸道微生物有關的研究工作，並以有益微生物為主要研究對象，從中了解它們對代謝綜合症及嬰兒健康可能產生的影響。

研究以患有代謝綜合症（包括原發性高血壓及由膳食誘發的高血壓）的動物為實驗對象，其中發現細菌和代謝反應之間有著密不可分的動態關係，換言之腸道微生物群與人類代謝相互作用是改變腸道微生物組成、數量和活動的主要因素。

研究亦招募了多對母嬰來探討餵哺母乳和選擇添加了益生菌及／或益生元的配方奶粉，對嬰兒腸道微生物群生長可能產生的作用。此外，邱博士的實驗亦研究生命早期的營養狀況，會如何影響嬰兒腸道微生物群的生長。

研究發現腸道微生物群具有抗炎效果，意味著只要重新平衡人體腸胃中的失衡微生物群，便能治療或改善代謝綜合症，同時假如腸道中含有大量具有免疫調節功能的細菌，則或有助促進嬰兒免疫系統的發展。