EpiDisease is excited to announce its collaboration with CSIC, UAM, Nutrinsect, CCMAR, and IMDEA Food as part of the international DiBaN consortium.
By joining this esteemed group, EpiDisease will contribute its expertise and knowledge in epigenetics and biomarkers, enhancing the consortium’s efforts to address metabolic diseases and intestinal dysbiosis through innovative nutritional solutions.
Together, we aim to advance research and develop effective interventions for improving public health.
About the DiBaN project
Poor nutrition is a major contributor to metabolic diseases and an imbalance in the intestinal microbiota (intestinal dysbiosis) is one factor driving the progression of insulin resistance to Type 2 diabetes (T2D).
T2D is characterised by insulin resistance or insufficient insulin production, resulting in high blood glucose levels. T2D was projected to reach 7% globally by 2023 and affects more than half a billion people globally, a number predicted to more than double to 1.3 billion people in the next 30 years[1].
Addressing this issue is critical for public health, and understanding the mechanisms behind this relationship is essential for personalized interventions. Progress however has been hindered by the complexity of the microbiome and individual differences.
The DiBaN project aims to tackle these challenges by focusing on how nutritional effects are driven by metabolic shifts in intestinal bacteria that affect host metabolism. To prevent dysbiosis and T2D, there is an urgent need for innovative food development tools that promote a healthy microbiome-host interface.
The causal relationships linking the effect of diet on the microbiome with insulin resistance and T2D are still unknown and need to be elucidated.
DiBaN will conduct preclinical and human studies that, revealing these links, will allow the development and validation of ex-vivo models that recapitulate the nutrient-bacteria-host interface, in an insulin resistance environment.
These platforms will be validated for the analysis of personalized responses and as a tool for novel food testing. This concept will be implemented through the development of novel metabolically healthy food products derived from the insect Acheta domesticus (A. domesticus) fed with microalgae.
DiBaN will create advanced ex vivo platforms that accurately simulate in vivo conditions of dysbiosis and insulin resistance, validated with in vivo omic data. The project will explore insect food technology, specifically using the house cricket (A. domesticus), known for its nutritional benefits, enhanced by a diet supplemented with bioactive-rich microalgae extracts.
This research will also help identify biomarkers for monitoring insect health. Ultimately, the data collected will inform the design of an AI-based application to predict personalized responses to nutritional interventions.
Lifestyle interventions can prevent T2D development, but while general nutritional guidelines have failed to curb the prevalence of the disease, the possibility of implementing personalized guidelines would greatly facilitate the prevention of metabolic diseases such as T2D.
[1] https://www.healthdata.org/news-events/newsroom/news-releases/global-diabetes-cases-soar-529-million-13-billion-2050
El proyecto DiBaN esta apoyado y financiado con la ayuda de:
