WKW LAB
Lab of Nutrimicrobiomics & Next Generation Probiotics
營養微生物體與次世代益生菌研究室
Microbiome Research: The Future of Precision Medicine
The human microbiome—a complex ecosystem of microorganisms inhabiting the body—plays a pivotal role in maintaining health and driving disease progression. Advances in metagenomics, metabolomics, and bioinformatics have uncovered intricate host-microbiota interactions, revealing biomarkers and therapeutic targets for diverse conditions, including metabolic disorders, inflammatory diseases, and cancers.
Microbiome research has opened new frontiers for diagnostic tools and therapeutic interventions in translational medicine. For example, the identification of microbiome-derived metabolites, such as short-chain fatty acids and trimethylamine-N-oxide, has significantly enhanced our understanding of cardiometabolic diseases. Integrating microbiome data with genomic and environmental factors enables the development of personalized health strategies, including innovative diagnostics that predict individual responses to diet, drugs, and lifestyle interventions. Furthermore, specific gut commensals, such as Akkermansia muciniphila, have been found to modulate host physiological states and hold promise as therapeutic agents for improving non-communicable diseases.
Despite these advancements, significant challenges persist in translating microbiome research into clinical practice. Overcoming these obstacles will require multidisciplinary approaches, including the use of robust multi-omics analyses to generate microbiome-related hypotheses for disease modulation, rigorous experimental validation through models such as gnotobiotic animals, and anaerobic culturomics techniques to isolate key gut microbes for advanced therapeutic applications.
We believe that microbiome research holds transformative potential to revolutionize clinical practice and health management. By enabling more effective and individualized interventions, it is driving a new era of personalized and preventive medicine.
Gut Microbiome-Based Precision Nutrition
The metabolic products of gut microbiota play a critical role in health and disease. Compounds like TMAO and PAGln have been shown to promote cardiometabolic diseases. Our research aims to identify key gut microbes and microbial genes as biomarkers and to develop diagnostic tools for predicting the microbial capacity to produce these harmful metabolites. Our ultimate goal is to create reliable, clinically validated tests that advance precision health and preventive medicine.
Development of Next Generation Probiotics
This study, conducted in collaboration with Leeuwenhoek Laboratories, aims to screen pasteurized Akkermansia muciniphila (pAKK) strains for their potential to improve MASLD. Over 100 AKK strains have been isolated from healthy individuals. Functional screening is currently underway in animal models, evaluating their effects on body weight, insulin resistance, and NAS. The ultimate goal is to identify the most effective strains for MASLD treatment.
Establishment of synthetic human microbiota-associated (sHMA) mouse model representative of healthy community
Exploring the Gut-Liver Axis through Bariatric Surgery, Nutrition, and Exercise for MASLD Therapeutic Development
This project aims to investigate the mechanisms underlying the metabolic benefits of bariatric surgery, nutrition, and exercise in MASLD and explore their potential links to the gut microbiota. The interaction between gut microbes, host metabolism, and immunity, mediated via the gut-liver axis, could serve as a therapeutic target for developing innovative treatments for MASLD in the future.