Start date: 2025
Award: £111,423
Status: Active
What issue does this study address?
Faecal microbial transplantation (FMT), the process of transplanting faecal material from healthy donors to patients, holds great promise as a transformational treatment for many chronic inflammatory diseases. The potential of FMT treatment relies on its ability to reverse negative changes in the composition of the many different types of microorganisms and the chemicals they produce (metabolites) within the colon. When the balance of these microbes and metabolites is wrong, this is known as dysbiosis, and can cause inflammation within the gut.
FMT is a very new scientific field. We do not currently know what kind of microorganisms/metabolites are transplanted from the donor to the patient in an FMT or if they are active, which is fundamental information for any medicine.
What are the aims and how could this work help people with bowel disease?
This project will examine three key FMT components: bacteria, bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria), and bacterial metabolites. The research team want to know if these components become modified when donor faecal material is used to create FMT medicines. We will examine if they survive these processes and remain active, in addition to testing different ways to create FMT, to identify which is superior.
If we know what is in a FMT formulation we will be able to develop guidelines to inform others how to effectively produce FMT, increasing the ability of clinicians to use these medicines. We will also be able to describe which processing methods are best and create more patient-focused treatments (such as oral medications) in addition to enabling us to understand why FMT is so effective. With this comprehensive data, this project will promote, encourage and motivate the use of FMT, improving patient access, personalised treatments and increasing the clinical utility of these life-changing medicines.
The research team
This PhD project will be supervised by Dr Richard Horniblow, an Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham.