< Back to previous page

Project

PhD: Investigating the response of a synthetic human gut community to perturbations

The aim of the PhD project “Investigating the response of a synthetic human gut community to perturbations” is to perform a proof of concept study to evaluate control theory on a microbial community. A test community will be established comprising seven human gut bacterial species. Two of these species in the test community will be opportunistic and are closely associated with strains that have pathogenic behaviour in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). The test community will have a high abundance of such species which will render it a “dysbiotic” community configuration. The selected species and the test community will be studied to elucidate their response towards broad-range perturbations such as change in pH, change in amount of nutrients and exposure to oxygen. A targeted perturbation predicted by control theory will be applied to shift the community configuration to “eubiotic” state by decreasing the abundance of the opportunistic species. Growth rates, interaction strengths and other suitable parameters need to be measured to develop a mathematical model to understand the microbial dynamics. This project also provides a scope to contribute towards the development of such a mathematical tool. The various steps that change a dysbiotic to an eubiotic gut community configuration in vitro will also be comprehended from this project.

Date:23 Nov 2021 →  Today
Keywords:Gut Microbiota, Human gut, Microbial dynamics, Modelling
Disciplines:Bacteriology, Microbiomes
Project type:PhD project