Posted: October 5, 2021
Inside each of us there exists a place of bountiful bacteria that contribute to our immune health and overall health on a daily basis. While this is not a part of the body’s innate or adaptive immune system, it still contributes to bodily functions each day. It is the gut microbiome.
A GUT FEELING: CHAKRABORTY’S DIVE INTO THE GUT MICROBIOME & DIETARY HEALTH
Hailey Reiss | October 4th, 2021
Inside each of us there exists a place of bountiful bacteria that contribute to our immune health and overall health on a daily basis. While this is not a part of the body’s innate or adaptive immune system, it still contributes to bodily functions each day.
It is the gut microbiome.
Graduate student Debopriya Chakraborty seeks to modulate the side effects of a chemotherapeutic drug using the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) and its associated ligands within the gut microbiome. Specifically, her research focuses on how activation through certain dietary receptors may impact gut health and, as a result, overall health.
Chakraborty became interested in this line of research two years ago after reading a paper that showed that activation of the AHR could create peptides that were involved in gut homeostasis. Intriguingly, resulting proteins became dysregulated in the absence of the receptor. Enthralled by the idea that AHR activation and its subsequent proteins could impact intestinal health, Chakraborty set out to develop her own research project inspired by this concept.
The ultimate hope of Chakraborty’s research is to give a direction of how to improve the use of chemotherapy drugs by minimizing side effects through the manipulation of diet.
“Overall, I would say that one of the main reasons I’m in research is on-bench experiments,” Chakraborty gushes in reference to her research. Of particular interest to her is immunofluorescence experiments where she gets to see the real, damaged images—she is fascinated by the cell lines.
Currently pursuing a PhD in pathobiology, Chakraborty hopes to complete her degree in 5 years total time and is currently in her 4th year of the program. While she is not completely sure of what she would like to do in the future, she thinks that she would like to do a postdoc in a national laboratory in order to give herself greater flexibility in choosing a set career path down the line.
In the meantime, Chakraborty is happy to focus on the gut microbiome and its antimicrobial peptides. One application she is looking forward to researching more intently in the future is the impact of circadian rhythms on the gut microbiome.
She has recently submitted a paper as a contributing author to Advance Sciences on the expression of microbial peptides with broccoli and is currently awaiting a response. She is also hoping to participate in the AHR Symposium this upcoming summer and may even have some research data to present there.
In her spare time, she enjoys singing, practicing music, and visiting places. She can be contacted through email at dxc923@psu.edu for further inquiries.
