Inside the human gut lives a hidden world of trillions of microbes \u2013 and Professor Sam Forster is exploring how they shape our health.<\/p>\n
Most people think of bacteria as something to fight, but the world is slowly learning just how important they can be.<\/p>\n
Studying the trillions of microbes in the gut, his research shows that these tiny organisms do more than digest food: they influence immunity, disease, and even mood. <\/p>\n
Professor Forster is harnessing them to create novel and game-changing treatments for conditions like inflammatory bowel disease and stubborn infections.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the microbes we encounter aren\u2019t pathogens,\u201d Professor Forster explains. \u201cThey\u2019re actually maintaining our health \u2013 but historically, we\u2019ve ignored them because we\u2019ve focused so much on the ones that make us sick.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just about digestion … these microbes are involved in processes right across the body, and we\u2019re only just beginning to understand how important they really are.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pivotal moment in his research came during a stint at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK, where he worked with microbiologist Professor Trevor Lawley. <\/p>\n
The challenge was not only identifying gut microbes through DNA sequencing but actually growing them in the lab \u2013 a necessary step to understand their function and potential as therapies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to turn microbes into treatments, sequencing isn\u2019t enough,\u201d Professor Forster says.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need to grow them, study them, and produce enough to use safely in people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Microbiome-led approaches, including fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), have already been used to treat conditions including chronic Clostridioides difficile infections and inflammatory bowel disease\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat it works at all is amazing,\u201d Professor Forster says. \u201cWe\u2019re taking a complex community of microbes from a healthy person and using it to reset someone else\u2019s system \u2013 and in many cases, it leads to real, measurable improvement, and that tells us just how powerful these microbial communities can be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor Forster believes modifying the microbiome could eventually help treat many immune-related diseases, from inflammatory bowel disease to autoimmune conditions like arthritis.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny disease linked to the immune system could be improved by adjusting the gut microbiome,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n
Public awareness of gut health is growing, driven by better technology, scientific discoveries, and proven treatments like FMT.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you can grow these bacteria and test them, you can design therapies tailored to specific conditions,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not there yet, but that\u2019s where we\u2019re heading \u2013 and quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
For that next stage of the journey, he\u2019s working with BiomeBank, an Adelaide-based startup which began as an FMT service, and is now developing a designed bacterial mix for IBD in clinical trials.<\/p>\n
Much of this progress is possible thanks to a fellowship grant from CSL, which supports long-term collaborative research, helping pave the way for the next generation of designed bacterial therapies.<\/p>\n
\u201cScience alone isn\u2019t enough,\u201d Professor Forster says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need a pathway to take discoveries from the lab and turn them into therapies that reach
patients safely and effectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe CSL fellowship grant helps us do that.\u201d <\/p>\n
It allows us to focus on building the foundations for these therapies, not just the experiments. Their long-term investment is critical \u2013 it\u2019s what enables us to go from ideas to real-life outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clinical trials are already under way, and Professor Forster believes that within the next five years, refined microbiome-based treatments could become part of standard medical practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very plausible we\u2019ll have treatments for a number of conditions,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trials are happening now, and progress is moving quickly… It\u2019s realistic to expect these therapies could become part of conventional medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n
IN THEIR OWN WORDS<\/p>\n
\u201cPacked inside the body, our guts form a remarkably rich environment for microbes, with a surface area about the size of a small apartment and links to the immune system that influence both health and disease, including autoimmune conditions, infections and cancer.<\/p>\n
There is an urgent need to understand this amazing system because many of these microbes are disappearing before we even know what they do, through modern practices like over-use of antibiotics, both in humans and agriculture. It is this rapidly closing window that drives my research.<\/p>\n
At Hudson Institute of Medical Research, we focus on understanding the forgotten friendly microbes \u2013 who they are, what they do, and how their absence can weaken communities and invite disease.<\/p>\n
With the support of the CSL fellowship, I\u2019ve built the capability to grow and study gut bacteria, and explore how they interact with our body. This work lays the foundations for a new generation of microbiome-based medicines.<\/p>\n
Working with BiomeBank, a local biotechnology success story, we have delivered a microbiome treatment that is now benefiting patients across Australia. But that is only the beginning.<\/p>\n
Our work now is about making microbiome medicine precise, personal and practical. <\/p>\n
By matching the right microbes to the right patients, we are ensuring microbiome medicines reach everyone who needs them \u2013 helping change the course of disease.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Professor Sam Forster <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inside the human gut lives a hidden world of trillions of microbes \u2013 and Professor Sam Forster is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,689,135390,6441,328518,328533,328522,328516,328517,328528,2057,39297,328529,328532,328520,328524,9320,8410,23756,137,89625,328523,1623,6636,69508,328527,194220,3583,677,160476,328534,91195,328525,328519,328526,110061,94288,328521,328531,328530,3586,95965],"class_list":["post-681310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-autoimmune-conditions","tag-clinical-trials","tag-collaborative-research","tag-conventional-medicine","tag-designed-bacterial-mix","tag-designed-bacterial-therapies","tag-difficile-infections","tag-digest-food","tag-europe","tag-fecal-microbiota-transplantation","tag-fellowship-grant","tag-fellowship-grant-helps","tag-friendly-bacteria","tag-game-changing-treatments","tag-gut-bacteria","tag-gut-health","tag-gut-microbiome","tag-health","tag-hudson-institute","tag-identifying-gut-microbes","tag-immune-system","tag-inflammatory-bowel-disease","tag-long-term-investment","tag-measurable-improvement","tag-microbial-communities","tag-northern-europe","tag-oceania","tag-pivotal-moment","tag-proven-treatments","tag-public-awareness","tag-real-life-outcomes","tag-refined-microbiome-based-treatments","tag-samuel-forster","tag-scientific-discoveries","tag-secret-weapon","tag-standard-medical-practice","tag-stubborn-infections","tag-trevor-lawley","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wellcome-sanger-institute"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}