Lewis Chaytor

• BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences
• Nutrient acquisition by prominent members of the human gut microbiota.

In our diet we consume a wide range of polysaccharides, many of which we can’t digest. Our resident gut microbiota contains certain genes enabling them to bind and digest these complex glycans. The research project is to test the hypothesis that certain genes (downstream of the ‘sus’ D gene) code for glycan binding proteins. These glycan binding proteins are important in understanding how gut microbiota bind and utilises the complex polysaccharides that humans can’t. The presence of these resident bacteria is necessary in maintaining normal health and nutrition.

Funding source: Newcastle University