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"All diseases begin in the gut." Hippocrates, 400 BC.
The human gastrointestinal (GI) tract represents one of the largest interfaces (250-400 m2) between the host, environmental factors, and antigens in the human body. In an average lifetime, about 60 tons of food pass through the human gastrointestinal tract, along with an abundance of microorganisms from the environment that represent a huge threat to the integrity of the gut. The collection of bacteria, archaea, and eukarya that colonize the gastrointestinal tract is defined as the "gut microbiota" and has co-evolved with the host (humans) over thousands of years to form an intricate and mutually beneficial relationship. It has been estimated that the number of microorganisms inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract exceeds 10^14, which comprises about 10 times more bacterial cells than the number of human cells and over 100 times the amount of genomic content (microbiome) of the human genome. Due to the vast number of bacterial cells in the body, the host and the microorganisms that inhabit it are often referred to as a "superorganism".
The microbiota offers many advantages to the host, through a series of physiological functions such as strengthening intestinal integrity or shaping the intestinal epithelium, harvesting energy, protecting against pathogens, and regulating host immunity. However, there is the possibility that these mechanisms may be disrupted due to an altered microbial composition, known as dysbiosis. With the development of increasingly sophisticated methods to profile and characterize complex ecosystems, a role for the microbiota in a large number of intestinal and extra-intestinal diseases has become consistently evident.
About me...
I have always been fascinated by everything unexplored. I am an extremely curious person.
At the age of 7, I asked for a microscope as a gift, which I still keep on my desk today.
In 2011, while writing my first thesis, I discovered the gut microbiota.
Since then, the study of the human microbiota in all its facets has become my most important absorbing interest.
" As long as I am hungry, I will continue to feed on knowledge."