Campus friends @ Homewood

Sucralose may interfere with cancer immunotherapy - exciting and important new research from @overacrelab.bsky.social in @theaacr.bsky.social!

aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...

(AI-rendered illustration of the article's title)

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Given the limited number of interventional studies on the question, we also considered observational trials and found that non-nutritive sweeteners intake is associated with human gut microbiome alterations, although confounders need to be considered.

🧵7/n

There are considerably fewer interventional studies reporting on the impacts of non-nutritive sweeteners on the HUMAN microbiome. Strikingly, studies that found significant microbiome changes also reported a metabolic effect; No metabolic effects were reported in null microbiome trials 💡‼️ 🧵5/n

We recently reviewed the evidence for non-nutritive sweeteners' impacts on animal microbiomes & concluded that rodents should probably avoid diet soda: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

But metabolism research doesn't always translate, so what is the evidence for similar effects in humans? 🧵4/n

With mounting concerns regarding the safety of non-nutritive sweeteners, understanding the ways they interact with our body can establish a causal link between consumption and health/disease, which is critical for informing public health recommendations for sweetener use 🧵 2/n

Do non-nutritive sweeteners alter the human microbiome? And why is this question important?

Check out our new review in Immunometabolism, spearheaded by @kcrakes.bsky.social, Lauren Questell & @subah.bsky.social and quick 🧵👇:

journals.lww.com/immunometabo...

Super proud of our postdocs @kcrakes.bsky.social & @haleybiont.bsky.social for their outstanding talks at @camri-igs.bsky.social Mid-Atlantic #Microbiome Meeting, featuring exciting science from all over the region + keynotes by Sue Lynch (UCSF) & @benwolfe.bsky.social (Tufts) + phage swag! 😎 🦠

SuezLab graduate students having fun on the last day of benchwork before their holidays/winter break. 🎉

(Left to right: Joyce, Brianna, Justin, Zhe, Jason).

...that the evidence does not support the notion that probiotics help recover the microbiome from antibiotics.

This is in line with a recent meta-analysis performed by an independent group of researchers (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...)

‼️ This does not mean that probiotics are useless ‼️ 5/🧵

The discussion was inspired by a work where we (w Eran Elinav @ WIS) showed that probiotics can delay rather than facilitate recovery of the human gut microbiome and transcriptome from antibiotics (tinyurl.com/SzCl18) and increase the number of antibiotic resistance genes (tinyurl.com/EmNm21) 3/🧵

🚨 New review in @natrevgastrohep.bsky.social:
Should you take probiotics with antibiotics?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Bottom line: current evidence does not support the common perception that probiotics can facilitate the gut microbiome's recovery from antibiotics. BUT! 1/🧵

I was recently told, "You're so excited about the microbiome!". It's true! I'm privileged to work on a topic I ❤️ AND others find valuable.

I'm grateful to be named a #HighlyCited2024 researcher for the 3rd time; 🙏 to everyone involved: my team @johnshopkins.bsky.social, collaborators & mentors 🎉🦠

🚨 Please share 🚨 The Suez Lab @JohnsHopkins is recruiting! We're seeking a senior bioinformatician with established (papers/preprints) experience in #microbiome #metagenomics. The position can be local, fully remote, or hybrid.

DM me for questions, apply here: jobs.jhu.edu/job/Baltimor...

It's National Postdoc Appreciation Week, and our very own Dr. Haley Hallowell is featured in the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health magazine!

Haley is not only a brilliant scientist but also a wonderful mentor and colleague 🤩 Learn more about Haley: www.suezlab.org/team