News

The award from Wellcome Discovery will enable the team to investigate the role that microbial composition, nutrient use, and dietary factors play in resistance to colonization by Salmonella Typhimurium, which typically causes gastroenteritis but is also a leading cause of invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella (iNTS) disease, a severe bloodstream infection. The work will build on the findings from a previous study, in which some healthy volunteers who were deliberately exposed to a beverage containing Salmonella Typhimurium showed complete resistance to colonization. The researchers say one of the ultimate objectives of the study is to develop microbiota-based therapies that could prevent infection and reduce reliance on antibiotics. This award allows us to explore the invisible defenders—the gut microbiota—and understand why some healthy people never become colonised when deliberately exposed to Salmonella bacteria," molecular microbiologist Blanca Perez-Sepulveda, PhD, of the University of Liverpool, said in a news release."