Microbiome Signatures

The intestinal microbiome plays a fundamental role in the regulation of human health and diseases. Nevertheless, and beyond recent enthusiasm, the mechanistic understanding of the complex microbiome-host interactions are still in its infancy, and the search for disease-specific microbiome signatures with prognostic and therapeutic value is incomplete.

The conceptual goal of the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1371 initiative is to understand the functional relevance of microbiome signatures and to determine their precise contribution in a disease-specific manner. We chose clinical endpoints that are associated with well-documented changes in the intestinal microbiome, and unravel key mechanisms linked to aberrant immune processing (inflammation) and tissue adaptation (cancer). Read more in our research profile.

A major strength of this interdisciplinary group of scientists is the complementary spectrum of expertise in basic and clinical research. After 10 years of intensive work in building this scientific network and research infrastructure, we are proud that 34 experts in microbiology, gastroenterology, immunology, informatics and nutrition science now start to work on this adventure of understanding the biology of microbiome functionality in the digestive tract.