Pascale Vonaesch: “We found out is that there are specific bacterial taxa that are either too abundant or not abundant enough in the microbiome of these children [with impaired growth]”

Understanding how microbes shape human health is at the core of Pascale Vonaesch’s work. A microbiologist and infection biologist with a strong interest in public health, she has built her research around the complex interplay between hosts and pathogens, with a particular focus on enteric infections. Over the past eight years, her work has increasingly centred on disentangling the relationships between nutrition, the microbiota, infection, and the systemic physiological changes they trigger in the human body, combining insights from both clinical studies and laboratory research.

Currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Lausanne (UNIL), Pascale Vonaesch recently visited GIMM, where she participated as a jury member in Maria Montoya’s PhD defence and delivered a talk.

Tell us about the Microbiota Vault project, in which you are involved.

Microbiota Vault is an initiative that was set up by Maria Gloria Dominguez Bello and Martin Blaser and the idea is to preserve the microbiome for future generations. And it’s set up a bit in a similar way as the Svalbard Seed Vault, to where people send seeds. In our case, microbiome samples that are then stored in a common place and basically are available for also future generations.

What is the purpose of storing these samples?

The purpose is to preserve. So basically, to keep biodiversity for future generations. And the idea is not really to do research, but to storage. And then people that would like to access the samples could get in contact with the local researchers that also deposited the samples.

Why this generalized interest in microbiota on the scientific community worldwide?

The microbiome plays a crucial role in our health. We are colonized at birth, and then we basically stay with our microbes until the end. So microbes are really part of our lives. They’re all around us. Collectively, the microbiome encodes around 100 times more genes than the human genome. And therefore, they’re also able to do a lot of functions that can then contribute to our well-being and our health. More and more, we are becoming aware that the balance of the microbiome, shaped by our lifestyle and the food we consume, can influence microbial communities and, in turn, further impact our own health. This is why it is so important to study the microbiome in greater detail.

You have been studying the relation between stunted children and microbiota. Tell us about it.

We’re interested in the role of the microbiome in childhood stunting [when children’s growth is impaired due to malnutrition]. What we found out is that there are specific bacterial taxa that are either too abundant or not abundant enough in the microbiome of these children. And this can then basically lead or contribute to the pathophysiology that we observe. In my group we try to understand in more detail the molecular mechanisms that are underlying this host-microbe interactions. And we also try to find new treatment options that will allow the rebalance the microbiome and hopefully allow the children a better growth again.