Being able to know the microorganisms that inhabit the human body and that we cannot see with the naked eye has been one of the key objectives for science and the one that motivates Mireia Vallès Colomer’s research. She heads the microbiome research group in the Department of Medicine and Life Sciences at Pompeu Fabra University.
The microbiome represents a microscopic world tailored to each of us. We have a specific microbiome in the skin, oral cavity or vagina with microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and viruses. Mireia and her team focus on the intestinal bacteria because they are the most important in number.
Mireia’s research focuses on understanding the relationship between gut microbiota and mental health. For example, many people with anxiety have digestive problems, so it is important to consider diet.
We share a lot of bacteria with the people we are with.
They also study how bacteria are transmitted between people, i.e. how our social interactions influence the composition of our microbiome. All this information is integrated using bioinformatics tools.
The conclusion is that we share many bacteria with the people we live with, and the closer the contact, the more bacteria we have in common.
We all receive the first inoculum of bacteria from our mothers when we are born, but there are differences depending on whether we are born vaginally or by caesarean section. People born by caesarean section are often associated with more allergies. This is because the micro-organisms inoculated into us by our mother help us to develop our immune system.
Our microbiome evolves with age. As we grow older, our microbiome continues to change according to our diet, state of health and lifestyle, and also because of the people we interact with.
The research of the young bioinformatician and her team is important to further develop the biology of our bodies in great detail. And an essential tool has been bioinformatics to understand what bacteria are, how they work and how they interact with different molecules within our gut with our brain.
With all this, Mireia concludes that ‘it is essential to continue and perfect computational techniques to describe new bacteria and their functions, as well as to continue describing the transmission of this microbiome between people and how all this affects our mental health.
