Duration
25h Th, 5h AUTR
Number of credits
| Master in biomedicine, research focus | 3 crédits | |||
| Master in biomedicine, professional focus in biomedical data management | 3 crédits | |||
| Master in biomedicine, professional focus in quality assurance | 3 crédits |
Lecturer
Laurence Delacroix, Nathalie Esser, Nicolas Paquot, Catherine Reenaers, Bernard Taminiau
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
Adances in GIT Biology will explore several aspects of the digestive tract.
We will first discuss about the different facets of gut immunity including the mucosal barrier, the absorptive surface, immune reactions to foreign antigens, maintenance of tolerance to benign antigens and building appropriate response to pathogenic insults.
The intervention of the immune system in the postnatal development of the small intestine (and other digestive organs) will then be briefly discussed.
The intestinal microbiota plays a fundamental role in the development and proper function of the immune system from birth. The intestinal colonization of the newborn by the mother during delivery and during breastfeeding is essential for the establishment of a favorable intestinal microbiota. But the composition of the gut microbiota can be influenced by many other factors such as antibiotics, stress, diet, environment, infectious agents. The establishment of a balanced microbial population (composition, amount, metabolites produced, interaction with the intestinal epithelium and the intestinal-associated immune system) at the beginning or during the life of an individual is essential. The use of synbiotics, a combination of probiotics and prebiotics (nutrients specific to microbial populations) as specialized microbial regulator supplements, may be of interest for the health of the gut microbiota.
Research on the human microbiota and particularly on the gut microbiota has taken off with the new technologies of molecular biology and bioinformatics. Like microbiology, microbiota analysis is based on indirect techniques focusing on three essential questions: what are the microbial populations present, what are their metabolic potentials and what are the products of their metabolism. The course illustrates the usual and modern techniques for addressing these three issues.
We will also cover the general principles of a balanced diet. Then, using obesity and type 2 diabetes as examples, we will discuss how and why nutritional disorders can lead to the development of disease.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
At the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Understand the fundamentals of gut immunology
- Explain tolerance to food and commensal bacteria
- Understand the different criteria used to judge the quality of a probiotic or prebiotic.
- Acquire the capacity to criticize the various studies published in the field of pro- and prebiotics.
- Criticize the in vitro models used to assess the effect of a probiotic or prebiotic.
- Understand certain technical and qualitative aspects of microbiota analysis methods.
- Comprehend the strengths and constraints of each approach to select and employ the most suitable microbiota analysis method for the specific scientific inquiry.
- Read and criticize scientific publications in the field of digestive system biology.
- Understand the general principles of balanced nutrition.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Knowledge of fundamental bases in Biology, Immunology, structure and function of the digestive system.
Basic knowledge of genetics, microbiology and parasitology.
Concept of human biochemistry and physiology (energy metabolism, regulation of energy substrates)
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Theoretical Lectures
Reading scientific papers
Presenting scientific studies
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Further information:
Face-to-face course
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Platform(s) used for course materials:
- eCampus
- MyULiège
Further information:
Veldhoen & Brucklacher-Waldert. Dietary influences on intestinal immunity, Nature Reviews, 12, 696-708. doi:10.1038/nri3299
Round & Mazmanian. The gut microbiota shapes intestinal immune responses during health and disease. Nature Reviews, 9, 313-323. doi:10.1038/nri2515
Mowat. To respond or not to respond - a personnal perspective of intestinal tolerance. Nature Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-018-0002-x
Zhou, J. et al. High-Throughput Metagenomic Technologies for Complex Microbial Community Analysis: Open and Closed Formats. mBio 6, e02288-14 (2015)
Lau, J. T. et al. Capturing the diversity of the human gut microbiota through culture-enriched molecular profiling. Genome Medicine 8, 1635 (2016).
Wooley, J. C., Godzik, A. & Friedberg, I. A primer on metagenomics. PLoS Comput Biol 6, e1000667 (2010).
Fondi, M. & Pietro Liò. Multi -omics and metabolic modelling pipelines: Challenges and tools for systems microbiology. Microbiological Research 171, 52-64 (2015).
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
written exam
Out-of-session test(s)
Further information:
Written exam + group work
The exam grade is weighted as follows:
80% on the written exam on the day of the exam (QCM + open questions)
20% on the group work (oral presentation of a scientific paper)
The overall grade for this course is indivisible. Group work counts for part of the grade, but will never be waived if the course is failed at the end of the year.
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
Contacts
ldelacroix@uliege.be - +32 4 3665905
veronique.delcenserie@uliege.be +32 4 3665124
bernard.taminiau@uliege.be - +32 4 3664226
nathalie.esser@chuliege.be
Catherine.Reenaers@chuliege.be