Image photo
Image texte Context and issues

Context and issues

Nutrition is a major environmental risk factor for metabolic diseases (such as obesity and type 2 diabetes) and their complications (cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic kidney failure, etc.). In addition, we are facing an unprecedented environmental crisis that raises key new sustainable food issues with the goals of optimal nutrition and population health.

In this context, the intestine is clearly a central actor in the link between nutrition and metabolic diseases, through the absorption of nutrients, regulation of the postprandial phase, bile acid metabolism, modulation of the intestinal microbiota, and fine control of specialized cells related to the gut barrier integrity and the production of gut hormones.

To advance science further and address the above-described major health issues, the DO-IT team studies the impact of food on metabolism and health by targeting intestinal homeostasis to propose innovative strategies for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases.

The team joins the expertise of CarMeN members in complementary fields, including lipid structure, nutrition & absorption, gut barrier, microbiota and gut-derived markers, postprandial physiology, metabolic homeostasis, adipose tissue metabolism and obesity surgery.

The DO-IT team gathers together about 50 persons, including academic researchers, clinicians, PhDs and Post-docs and technical staff. The team obtained the label “Equipe FRM” from the French Foundation for Medical Research in 2021.

Image texte Strenghts of DO-IT team

Strenghts of DO-IT team

  • The new location of the team members in the same CENS-ELI building located at the Lyon South Hospital, which also includes the Human Nutrition Research Centre Rhône-Alpes (CRNH-RA) for nutritional intervention trials and metabolic explorations.
  • Local clinical and “omics” platforms.
  • National and international collaborative networks (e.g. FORCE, ECRIN Nutrition Hub, JPI A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life, NUTRIBIOTA and the Paul Bocuse Institute).
  • Strong industrial partnerships with food and pharmaceutical companies.
See our main objectives

Skills

  • Lipids and lipoproteins: biochemical composition (HPTLC, omic analyses), molecular and supramolecular structures, particle size (laser granulometry), functional analyses (interactions with blood platelets, etc.), in vitro digestion.
  • Postprandial metabolism: kinetics of lipemia and glycemia, bioavailability of nutrients, test meals, lipoproteins, energy metabolism, satiety and feeding behaviour; mechanistic modelling and numerical simulation of multi-scale kinetics.
  • Use of stable isotopic tracers (carbon 13, deuterium) for in vivo exploration of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, and measurement of isotopes by mass spectrometry in different biological compartments.
  • Use of prebiotics and probiotic bacterial strains to modulate intestinal microbiota and metabolic health.
  • Determination of lipopolysaccharide activity (LPS; measurement of endotoxemia) by Limulus Amebocyte Lysate test  (LAL test).
  • Analysis of “omic” data (transcriptomic, metagenomic, lipidomic).
  • Understanding the mechanisms of predisposition to the development of obesity and diabetes and research for (bio)markers.
  • Exposure to environmental pollutants in preclinical models of obesity.
  • Primary culture of adipocytes or mesenchymal cells and culture of intestinal and adipose cell lines.
  • Functional and phenotyping exploration (proliferation, cytotoxicity, flow cytometry; migration tests, proliferation, and tumor progression) of mesenchymal stem cells from subcutaneous and visceral white adipose tissue deposits in mice.
  • Transposition of concepts in humans through clinical trials (CRNH Rhône-Alpes and hospital services, endocrinology-nutrition, pediatrics, nephrology, etc.).

Funders & Partners

FRM, ANR, DGOS (PHRC), JPI HDHL, SFD, Institut Olga Triballat, GLN, SFN, Fondation Danone, CNIEL, Roquette, Sodiaal-Candia, Pileje, Mondelez, Diana Foods.

Keywords

Obesity; Diabetes; Nutrition; Lipids; Prebiotics; Probiotics; Food matrix; Dairy; Edible oils; Lecithins; Lipoproteins; Chylomicrons; Intestine; Absorption; Malabsorption; Metabolism; Postprandial; Microbiota; Animal models; Adipose tissue; Inflammation; Pollutants ; Food preference; Satiety ; Bariatric surgery ; Paediatric nutrition.

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