Winners of 2010 Young Investigator Grant for Probiotics Research Announced

ALEXANDRIA, Va.The Global Probiotics Council (GPC), a committee established in 2004 by Danone and Yakult Honsha Co. Ltd., announced the two recipients of the third annual Young Investigator Grant for Probiotics Research (YIGPRO). The program was created to contribute to the advancement of probiotics and gastrointestinal microbiota research in the United States. The gastrointestinal microbiota is made up of trillions of live microbes that inhabit the human body and participate in numerous functions such as digestion, immune system development and protection from pathogens.

Ian Carroll, Ph.D., a research assistant professor in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Program for Digestive Diseases at the University of North Carolina was selected for his research proposal, "Role of Intestinal Microbiota in Increased Levels of Fecal Serine Proteases and Intestinal Permeability using Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome as a Model." Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) represents many challenges to clinicians, and the pathogenesis of this disorder is not well understood. Carroll's approach to characterizing the gut microbiome of diarrhea-predominant IBS patients with elevated levels of fecal serine protease activity could provide important therapeutic targets for this functional disorder.

The other grant will be awarded to Michael Fischbach, Ph.D., who is an assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, a joint Department of the School of Pharmacy and School of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.  His proposal is titled "A Gene-to-Model Approach to Discovering New Antibiotics from Probiotic Bacteria."  This study could provide an important foundation for understanding the role of production of antimicrobial compounds in probiotics for delivering health benefit. Fischbach's work in mechanism understanding will help identify new probiotic strains of lactic acid bacteria that are likely to be effective in providing health benefits.

A rigorous scientific review of all the applications was provided by the U.S. Probiotics Scientific Board Selection Committee, which is comprised of W. Allan Walker, M.D., conrad taff professor of nutrition at Harvard Medical School; Mary Ellen Sanders, Ph.D., executive director, International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP); Richard Guerrant, M.D., director, Center for Global Health, University of Virginia School of Medicine; and Balfour Sartor, M.D., professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "This was a remarkable group of applicants, and the caliber of science was very impressive," said Walker, chair of the committee.

"We are extremely pleased with the outstanding quality of applications received for the third consecutive cycle of this grant," said Sven Thormahlen, executive vice president R&D, Danone Research. "We hope these grants will help to uncover additional beneficial probiotics and will identify critical mechanisms by which they are promoting health."

"We are committed to raising awareness of probiotics and their health benefits through science-based education," said Yoshihiro Kawabata, senior managing director, Yakult Honsha Co. "By funding these annual grants, we are building a network of young investigators engaged in the research fields of probiotics and the microbiota in the United States, which, in turn, will have a global impact."

The Global Probiotics Council will provide $50,000 over the course of one year to both Carroll and Fischbach and their respective institutions.