Host-Microbiome Metabolism in Aging

Dr. Clara Correia-Melo
Group Leader

Our research group investigates how chemical shifts and resulting chemical microenvironments shape cellular and tissue function, and how these interactions influence disease initiation, progression, and response to therapy. 

We examine these dynamics across the host, the host-microbiome interface, and microbial communities. By integrating high-throughput mammalian and microbial experimental platforms with metabolomics, proteomics, and systems biology approaches, we work to identify metabolic biomarkers and modulators that enable innovative metabolism-targeted or metabolism-enhanced therapies. 

Through this comprehensive, multi-scale approach, we aim to uncover conserved metabolic principles that underlie health, disease vulnerability, and treatment outcomes.

The Power of Metabolic Microenvironment

Cells not only sense and take up nutrients from their surrounding environment, they also release a broad range of metabolites produced as a result of their biosynthetic activity. This metabolite release from cells, which is essential for maintaining  metabolic balance within the cell (homeostasis), creates specific metabolic microenvironments with important physiological consequences, particularly when it comes to regulating survival and response to therapies.

The network of chemical reactions within the cell, also termed the intracellular metabolic network, has been extensively characterized, yet our understanding remains limited with regard to the metabolic microenvironment surrounding the cell as a modulator of cellular and tissue function, as well as its impact on disease initiation, progression, and therapy response.