Project Title:
Assessment of WellBiome prebiotic to improve gut health using MiGut, a novel microbiome-nutrition analysis tool
Project Partners:
- Dr Anthony Buckley, University of Leeds (PI)
- OptiBiotix Health PLC (Industry Partner)
Research issue, problem, risk or opportunity being addressed:
OptiBiotix develop functional products for modulating and managing human disease. WellBiome is engineered to improve wellbeing and healthy ageing. Primarily, WellBiome works by selectively enhancing Bifidobacterium species and by hypothetically promoting saccharolytic fermentation throughout the colon; WellBiome competitively supports Bifidobacterium growth and promotes the production of SCFA. Gaining a deeper insight into the effects of WellBiome in the different regions of the colon is key to a mechanistic understanding of the active ingredients. This study will assess the recently developed MiGut system (UoLeeds), a miniaturised in vitro triple-stage colonic model. This brings benefits of reduced requirements for the ingredients under test, and consequently offers the ability to screen functional materials earlier in the development cycle.
This study addresses (i) new collaboration between industry and academia (ii) in functional foods through (iii) understanding the microbiome impact to (iv) improve WellBiome and (v) support technology pull-through from academia to support industry developing new health-supporting products.
By combining an innovative model system with metabolite and microbial analysis, our aim is to understand the beneficial mechanisms of the prebiotic WellBiome throughout the human colon.
A single MiGut rig. Each MiGut rig consists of four triple-staged MiGut reactors that simulate the different physiological conditions of the human colon. This continuous model allows for the spatial-temporal microbiome measurements in response to different nutrients.
Project Achievements/Outputs:
The results from this project have been essential to further validate MiGut as a novel tool to study nutrition-microbiome interactions. Furthermore, the enhanced environmental measurements of MiGut had the added benefit of predicting fibre fermentation capacity and SCFA production in real time.
The results produced herein have been used as a case study for further academic-industry interactions, with other industrial partners in talks about collaborations, such as Unilever & Arla.
The results have given Optibiotix greater insight into prebiotic-microbiome interactions for the further development of novel prebiotics.
Through the success of this award and the collaboration with Optibiotix, MiGut is now being considered for a business unit-type commercialisation venture, called MicroMimetics.
Results are being included for an abstract submission to the 18th International Scientific Conference on Probiotics, Prebiotics, Gut Microbiota and Health.
Advancing Science:
The results from this collaboration have been fruitful in further validating MiGut as a novel tool for nutrition-microbiome interactions. We were able to combine the environmental monitoring data, such as pH measurements and added volume of acid/alkaline, as a real-time predictor for the fermentation potential of prebiotics and the production of SCFA.
The data generated will help Optibiotix to further develop its range of prebiotics, through selective inclusion of the different types of fibres tested as a result of this award.
The collaboration with Optibiotix has opened up further avenues of exploration. We are in discussion about further developing the MiGut technology as a screening tool for novel fibres and testing probiotics. This will likely result in a full grant proposal.
Furthermore, the collaboration with Optibiotix and the data produced herein has contributed towards a business case for developing MiGut as a commercialisation service. This has the potential for further impact beyond academia.
FEBRUARY 2025