About This Project

You know that friend who never gets sick? We do too, and we want to learn their secret. Our project is designed to create a powerful probiotic supplement by studying these ‘Resisters’ who have natural, above-average ability to fight off infections like the common cold or flu. We believe their superpower lies in their unique gut microbiome. We hypothesize that Resisters have distinctive gut microbiomes profiles containing bacterial strains that can enhance immune resilience.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Your gut is home to trillions of bacteria, and we're just learning its language. These microscopic allies—your microbiome—have a staggering impact on your immune, metabolic, and even mental health. In recent years, studies have directly linked gut bacteria to the severity of COVID-19 infections, the development of allergies, and even how well you respond to vaccines. While existing probiotics with bacteria like Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus plantarum HEAL 9 offer a mild, but significant protection against colds, we're not aiming for "mild." We are expanding on this research to find the specific bacterial dream team that can dramatically upgrade your immune defenses against systemic infections. We hypothesize that by profiling the Resisters' microbiome, we can specifically identify bacteria which aid in host immune defense via bacterial derived metabolites and their interactions with the host's immune system.

What is the significance of this project?

The COVID-19 pandemic taught us a hard lesson: we need better, faster defenses. Imagine a general prophylactic that strengthens your immune system against future pandemics, buying the world precious time while vaccines are developed. By decoding the blood and gut microbiome signatures of people with naturally heightened immunity, we can pinpoint the exact microbes that grant this resistance. This technology can protect the public from common and costly infections, improving quality of life for millions and easing the massive financial burden on our healthcare system. The flu alone costs the US an estimated $90 billion annually. It’s time for a smarter defense. By profiling the Resister microbiome, we hope to create a general prophylactic probiotic to aid the general public's ability to fight off infections.

What are the goals of the project?

Our mission will follow a three-step process. First, we will recruit the elite by identifying and enrolling twelve “Resisters” to donate the blood and stool samples that hold their immunological secrets.

Second, we will decode the blueprint by fingerprinting their stool with next-generation sequencing to map their gut bacteria, while using cytokine multiplexing and untargeted metabolomics on their blood plasma to reveal the host–microbiome interactions that give them an edge.

Finally, we will build the shield by testing the identified bacteria—alone and in powerful consortia—in vitro using human-derived macrophage cell lines to assess their ability to help immune cells fend off infections and to build our prototype probiotic.