Alison Russell

Description of Research:

It has become clear that the human gut manages to function in symbiosis with an indefinite number of microorganisms which are necessary for normal gut function. The composition and stability of the gut microbiota can be disrupted by external factors influencing the likelihood of developing inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and the propensity for obesity. IBD can be divided into two disease categories: Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease. Crohn’s is a chronic, relapsing, immunologically mediated disorder that can have severe physical consequences. The current hypothesis is that this disease is due to an overly aggressive immune response to a subset of commensal enteric bacteria. Studies to date on IBD have suggested that the disorder may be caused by a combination of bacteria and host susceptibility. Until recently, no study has reported the use of advanced systems biology techniques such as metagenomics and metaproteomics, for the characterization of the natural microflora in Crohn’s patients. The objective of this research is to gain a comprehensive and mechanistic understanding of the microbial signature and functional differences between a normal human gut and Crohn’s disease. There are two ways to initiate this investigation, either by taking a restrictive systematic approach with a less complex gut community or a non-targeted, deep approach with a highly representative, complex gut community. Challenges are present in both approaches and whether one or the other is a more appropriate approach is highly debatable. For both approaches, liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (MS) will be used to characterize gut microbial community proteomes.

Contact Information

Alison Russell
Prospective PhD Candidate, Class of 2006

Email: arus1980@gmail.com

Mentor

Dr. Robert Hettich

Degree

BS: Forensic Science, Baylor University

MS: Biochemistry, Texas State University