AIBN Seminar Series: Microbiota Transfer Therapy for Autism: Multi-Omic Approaches to Lessons Learned

We are pleased to present Dr Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown to speak on the ecology of the human gut microbial.

Date: Thursday, 14 October

Time: 12 - 1pm

Venue: Online Via Zoom

Click here to access the free seminar.

Abstract

A healthy gut macrobiota has been associated with weight loss, diabetes remission, and enhanced gastrointestinal health in humans. Recent studies in human cohorts and mouse models have demonstrated a link between dysbiotic gut microbiota and autism. Driven by these findings, we hypothesized that altering the gut microbiota in children with autism would improve gastrointestinal and behavioral symptoms. Intestinal (fecal) microbiota transplantation is a promising therapy to restore dysbiotic gut microbiota by transferring thousands of bacterial species to a recipient’s gut. We pioneered an open-label clinical trial of microbiota transfer therapy (MTT) for autism. We monitored gastrointestinal and behavioral symptoms, gut bacterial communities and fecal metabolites on 18 autism-diagnosed children receiving this microbiota transfer therapy. Participants responded to treatment with rapid improvements in both gastrointestinal and behavioral symptoms, which sustained two years after treatment. This MTT significantly altered each recipient’s microbiome. The treatment resulted in increased bacterial diversity and a transition towards a healthy gut microbiota composition. I will share results of this promising clinical trial, and explore the relationship between metabolites, pathways and microbes changing during treatment.  The microbiota transfer therapy performed in this trial is a promising approach for sustainably altering the gut bacterial communities and their metabolites, and improving gastrointestinal and behavioral symptoms associated with autism spectrum disorders.

Presenter: Dr Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, Director of the Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and The Built Environment and a member of the Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology at Arizona State University

Dr. Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown is director of the Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and The Built Environment and a member of the Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology at Arizona State University. She Joined the SSEBE faculty in 2007.

Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown is a pioneer in the research on gut microbiome and autism. She specializes in molecular microbial ecology for bioremediation, the use of microbial systems for bioenergy production, and the human intestinal microbial ecology and its relationship to disease. In addition to the microbiome’s relationship with autism, Krajmalnik-Brown also investigates its links to obesity and bariatric surgery. Her other areas of interest include bioremediation of soil, sediments, and groundwater and the use of microbial systems for bioenergy.

Dr. Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown received her bachelor’s degree in industrial biochemical engineering from the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana (UAM) in Mexico City. She worked for a year at IBTech, an environmental engineering consulting firm. She was awarded a Fulbright scholarship which she used to get her master’s degree at Georgia Tech, and then went on to complete her doctorate in environmental engineering at Georgia Tech.  Krajmalnik-Brown has been awarded an NSF CAREER award, was selected as one of 40 under 40 leaders in Phoenix, and has funding for her research from many federal agencies including NIH.  She is the author of four patents and more than 120 peer-reviewed publications.