Introduction
The main aims of miTarget are to detect and characterize microbial changes and to decipher functional and causal relationships within the microbiome. Specifically, the goals of the first funding phase (2020-2024) were:
- to develop interventions and to identify new targets for IBD,
- to characterize (early) microbial changes in the gut microbiota of IBD patients and high-risk individuals,
- to functionally characterize the associated colitogenic and protective bacteria of IBD patients,
- to identify metabolic and proteomic changes in the gut microbiome of IBD patients,
- to study the microbial gut-skin axis in detail and to investigate the microbiome in important skin-comorbidities of IBD (psoriasis, pyoderma gangrenosum) in detail,
- to examine the influence of pregnancy-associated microbiota changes on intestinal inflammatory responses in IBD,
- to study the influence of the IBD risk-factor smoking on the lung and gut microbiome in greater detail,
- to test evolutionary principles in IBD microbiome research,
- to use model-based approaches to gain insight into functional disease-associated changes in microbiota metabolism and identify potential interventions, and
- to ameliorate IBD by targeting intestinal epithelial energy metabolism (glycolysis) and manipulation of the microbiome.
In funding phase 1, each miTarget project has made significant contributions to and progress in IBD gut microbiome research, including the development of innovative technologies necessary for this research (see publications on the individual project pages). With the first targets identified, the focus of the second phase (2024-2028) will now shift to understanding the underlying mechanisms and exploring potential interventions.
