University of Cape Town’s new laboratory aims to expand microbiome research in Africa
SOUTH AFRICA – The Microbial Interactions Laboratory, a new laboratory opened at the University of Cape Town, has brought together seven research teams studying different elements of the human microbiome.
The researchers are exploring the lung microbiome’s link to acquiring pneumonia and tuberculosis; the vaginal microbiome’s link to a woman becoming infected with HIV and experiencing adverse birth outcomes.
In addition, they are also researching how the gut microbiome’s link with common gastrointestinal disorders like bowel disease, as well as neurological disorders including autism and depression. And the ways the gut microbiome impacts the body’s metabolism of medicines.
Professor Jo-Ann Passmore, lead of the Vaginal Microbiome Research Consortium for Africa, said that while there’s vast diversity in microbiomes across the African continent, it’s significantly underrepresented in global research and databases — much of the research has been from the United States and Europe.
The lab will also boost efforts in setting up an African biobank to facilitate local fecal microbiome transplants, which can help establish healthy bacteria in lower intestines, and a vaginal biobank to facilitate local whole vaginal microbiome transplants for women in Africa.
The new Microbial Interactions Laboratory is hosted and funded by the University of Cape Town’s Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, or IDM, with infrastructure support coming from national funding.
Wellcome’s Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa, or CIDRI-Africa, helped insetting up the lab by donating major equipment to the lab.
The new Microbial Interactions Laboratory also received funds from the Gates Foundation to facilitate studies.
The lab seeks to understand the interplay between a person’s genetics, pathogens, and inflammation in the body to help foster the development of microbiome-centered health solutions for the continent, including diagnostics and treatments.
A person’s microbiome is impacted by where they live, with factors such as the climate, local diets, human genetic diversity, water quality, antibiotic use, and hygiene practices.
“All of those factors would drive the indigenous microbiomes in a woman from Cape Town versus a woman from Kenya, for instance,” Passmore said.
Passmore added that this new laboratory stands on the shoulders of important continental initiatives such as the Human Heredity and Health in Africa, or H3A, initiative and H3ABioNet, which has invested heavily in bioinformatics infrastructure.