Scientists have been awarded funding to explore how some healthy people are naturally protected against Salmonella Typhimurium infection.
The five-year project will receive more than £4.5 million ($6 million) in Wellcome Discovery funding. Wellcome is a charitable foundation that supports scientific research.
Led by Professor Jay Hinton, with assistance from Dr Blanca Perez-Sepulveda, Professor Roy Goodacre and Dr Ed Cunningham-Oakes from the University of Liverpool, the team also includes Lisa Maier, from the University of Tübingen, Professor Wolf Hardt from ETH Zurich and Dr Malick Gibani from Imperial College London.
Building on the work of the Invasive Non-Typhoid Salmonella Research Group in Africa, this new initiative focuses on colonization resistance – the ability of the gut microbiota to prevent infection.
Find out why some people show resistance
The study follows the Challenge non-typhoidal Salmonella (CHANTS) human challenge trial, a £3 million ($4 million) Wellcome-funded project recently completed by Dr Gibani’s team at Imperial College London with support from Professor Hinton.
In CHANTS, 50 healthy volunteers were deliberately exposed to Salmonella Typhimurium by drinking a vial containing the bacteria. Some individuals showed complete resistance to colonization – a finding that forms the scientific basis of the new project.
Using experimental models of the human gut microbiota, the team will study how microbial composition, nutrient utilization and dietary factors determine resistance to Salmonella Typhimurium infection.
Using data from the CHANTS study with multi-omics analyzes of infection dynamics, they aim to reveal the microbial mechanisms that confer resistance to colonization.
Dr. Perez-Sepulveda said: “This award allows us to explore the invisible defenders – the gut microbiota – and understand why some healthy people never become colonized when deliberately exposed to Salmonella bacteria. Ultimately, we hope that it will be possible to modify the microbiota of susceptible children in Africa in order to prevent invasive non-typhoid salmonellosis.
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