Research at King's College London
Food Allergy and Environmental Health Research Group King's College London
FAIR has supported The Food Allergy and Environmental Health Research Group at King's College London for a number of years, and is presently funding a Senior Clinical Research Fellow and a Clerical Research Associate in a five year programme.
Supervised by Dr. Jeremy Sanderson and Prof. Brostoff, the Research Group is investigating the relationship between diet, microbes and the lining of the gut and has made significant progress in the understanding of this complicated field of medicine.
Its main premise is that investigation of the large variety of microbes that line the human intestine, and the complex way in which these microbes interact with the immune system in the gut wall, will lead to important insights into how a variety of gut disorders develop. This includes a spectrum of intestinal health problems from the irritable bowel syndrome, food allergy and tolerance to the overt inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
« Scanning electron micrograph showing numerous bacteria closely associated with the colonic epithelium (from a patient with Crohn's disease).
Current projects include a detailed characterisation of the microbial flora which are closely associated with the lining of the intestine in both health and disease (see EM picture below). This includes using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, and cloning and sequencing of amplified 16s rRNA sequences. The Research Group is also investigating whether certain species of bacteria may play a more specific role in initiating or perpetuating inflammation in the gut. The microbial flora comprises not only bacteria, but also yeast species and the intention is to determine whether these yeast species might be important in the development of intestinal problems, including food allergy and intolerance.
Many people suffer as a result of symptoms of food intolerance, resulting in significant morbidity, impaired qualify of life and reduced occupational capacity. Ultimately therefore, it is the goal of the Research Group, to translate the research on gut microbial flora into specific treatments, in particular by non-drug dietary modification or supplementation, such that these distressing conditions can be much improved.