Project:

Effects of PUFAs and choline on inflammatory microbes in mice with a high-fat Western diet

Students:

Amber Siurano, Samuel Wang, Akari Murphy

Institution:

Brooklyn College - CUNY,

Mentors:

Anjana Saxena

Abstract:

Dietary behaviors have an extensive impact on mammalian gut microbiome and overall health. Unhealthy diets, such as the increasingly common “Western Diet”, can cause gut microbiota dysbiosis leading to the onset of inflammatory related diseases. The Western diet is a modern diet typically high in saturated fats, sugars, and processed foods but being low in fiber and whole grains, contribute to the imbalance of the gut microbiota, favoring the growth of harmful inflammatory-related bacteria in the gut and reducing beneficial bacteria. Dietary intervention can prove to have anti-inflammatory effects on the gut microbiota. In this DNA-barcoding project we will explore the potential effects that dietary choline and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) can have on the gut microbiota using a mouse model that has been continuously exposed to a Westernized diet. Understanding the changing gut microbiome will provide essential cues about how to reverse the diseases that are initiated by unhea

Poster:

Team samples: