© Springer Nature
We warmly congratulate the three recipients of the GGGH in 2023, who proposed studies investigating how the microbiome may affect how an individual responds to COVID-19 infection. We’re proud to present the three applicants and their projects.
Suchitra Hourigan (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Maryland, US) will focus on children with symptoms of long COVID. The intestinal damage caused by COVID-19 infection can cause inflammation and may have prolonged effects on the immune system. This project will analyse samples collected from three cohorts: children recovered from COVID-19; those with long COVID; and healthy siblings. Microbial profiles of faecal samples will be assessed to identify specific species and changes in the prevalence of metabolite. The host–microbiome inflammatory and immune responses will also be determined in serum samples to identify characteristic signatures. These data are likely to provide novel insights into the mechanistic and molecular basis of long COVID, and they may even identify a therapeutic target for further investigation.
Jane Varney (Monash University, Melbourne, Australia) will look at the effect of a dietary supplement containing a fermentable fibre. Individuals with long COVID lack certain bacterial species in their gut microbiota, and the subsequent ‘missing’ metabolites may exacerbate symptoms through less action on immune cells. These researchers aim to determine if dietary supplementation with a fermentable fibre can improve the symptoms of long COVID, and whether such supplementation alters the microbiota composition and causes changes in the immune system. In a double-blind dietary intervention, one group of long-COVID patients will receive the fermentable fibre supplement, while the other group will receive a low-fibre supplement. Participants will be assessed to see if fibre supplementation reduces symptom severity. Blood and faecal samples will be monitored before and after the intervention period to investigate the mechanisms behind any improvements.
Thomas Vogl (Medical University of Vienna, Austria) will seek to identify pre-diagnostic markers that may predict long-COVID onset. His project will compare samples from individuals that developed long COVID with longitudinal samples collected previously from a large healthy population cohort over 15 years. Some individuals that provided the ‘healthy’ samples never developed COVID, while others had regular COVID, and some long COVID. The antibody responses to many microbiota and viral antigens will be profiled using machine learning to identify specific microbiota–immune interactions and hence crucial biomarkers present only in individuals that developed long COVID. The power of this study lies in the analysis of large numbers of samples in existing cohorts and biobank samples.
I’m confident that these excellent projects will improve our understanding of how the gut microbiome affects long-COVID symptoms. They may also identify approaches to microbiome modulation that could reduce the burden of this disease. I wish the recipients luck with their crucial work!
Finally, I’d like to thank fellow panellists Ami Bhatt, Sarah Lebeer, Kiyoshi Takeda, Paul O’Toole and Liping Zhao for their excellent contributions to the evaluation process.
Meet the panel
The independent panel is made up of internationally renowned researchers in human microbiota from across the world.
From left to right: Karen P. Scott, Panel Chair, Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom. Ami Bhatt, Departments of Medicine (Hematology & BMT) and Genetics, Stanford University, United States of America. Sarah Lebeer, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Belgium.
From left to right: Kiyoshi Takeda, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Japan. Liping Zhao, Chair of Applied Microbiology at Rutgers University, United States; Distinguished Professor of Microbiology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China.
Supporting innovative research into the human microbiome