Dr. Karsten Beekmann
Gut microbiota toxicology
Gut microbiota
The role of the gut microbiota in the toxicity of food-borne chemicals
The gut microbiota has an important effect on human health through a wide range of biochemical and metabolic activities that influence the host’s exposure to toxic xenobiotic compounds and their metabolites. Examples of compounds that are affected by gut microbial metabolism are drugs, such as sorivudine and sulfasalazine, but also food-borne adulterants like melamine, and natural chemicals like glucosinolates, lignans, and isoflavones. In this project, the role of the gut microbiota for toxicology is studied; this includes studying the gut microbial metabolism of foodborne xenobiotics, studying the biological activities of metabolites formed, and integrating these data into physiologically based kinetic models and risk-benefit analyses.
Techniques involved
in vitro gut microbial metabolism, mammalian cell culturing, in vitro kinetic studies (e.g. intestinal transport and metabolism), chemical analysis (HPLC, UPLC) in vitro toxicity studies (e.g. estrogen receptor activation), physiologically based kinetic (PBK) modelling and application of these models to translate in vitro data to the in vivo situation, risk-benefit assessment based on in vitro data.
PhD's
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Diana Méndez Catalá: The role of gut microbial and mammalian co-metabolism in the toxicity of (masked) zearalenone.
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Qianrui Wang: Role of the gut microbiome in the estrogenicity and related health effects of the isoflavones daidzein and genistein.
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Katja van Dongen: Development of a novel, interdisciplinary model to study interactions between foodborne xenobiotics, the intestinal microbiome and the intestinal epithelium.
