Jensen Group – Nutritional Immunology

• Animal Models (DIO, NASH, Barrier integrity, Colitis, Abx, Viral infections, and more)
• Hot N’ Cold – Room temperature versus thermoneutral housing to manipulate host immunocompetence.
• Immune characterization (Multicolor single cell flow cytometry, ELISA’s, etc.).
• In vivo Imaging (e.g., tracking viral loads in real time).
• Gut microbiome functionality (FMT, Bioinformatics).
• Host-Microbe Interactions.
• Histology.
• Standard biochemistry assays.

A) Host defense peptides in mucosal immunology, including the seminal discovery of how enzymatic digestion of these peptides liberated bioactive fragments (PNAS, 2019), encompassing therapeutic potential to curb some of the most pertinent global health threats. A biological concept that has now been used by others to propose new treatments against both obesity and multidrug resistant bacteria and viruses.

B) Rewiring mucosal immunology by use of postbiotics as a sustainable nutrient source. With a required landmass of 0.03% compared to plant protein, this novel nutrient source is a sustainable candidate for alternative protein production. We were further able to correct a dysregulated microbiota as well as selectively increase the magnitude of peripherally induced regulatory T cells (Tregs) in small and large intestine (Nature Comms, 2021). These tissue-specific Tregs are uniquely equipped so suppress gastrointestinal inflammation. The technique has been patented and a License agreement between UCPH and an American startup has been signed.

C) Corroborating bacterial translocation in human obesity using strict contamination aware techniques (Nature Metab, 2020; 6th most cited paper in #BestofNatMetab2020). Cited >100 times the first two years post publication.

D) First to report a commensal gut microbiota species fueling human and mouse insulin resistance (Nature, 2016). Data from this seminal paper (cited >1.350 times) fostered the conceptual idea of how some commensal microbes may diet-dependently turn from friends to foes.

E) Development of a humanized fast-food mimicking diet capable of phenocopying human NASH and barrier dysfunction (manuscript in preparation). Key Opinion Leaders confirmed the superiority of this model. The model has further been utilized to corroborate diet-dependency in probiotic performance (Manuscript in revision).

1. https://sciencenews.dk/en/eating-protein-from-bacteria-strongly-promotes-health
2. https://sciencenews.dk/en/new-way-to-fight-multidrug-resistant-bacteria-spares-the-good-and-kills-the-bad-and-the-ugly
3. https://sciencenews.dk/en/cheap-and-safe-peptide-will-overcome-multidrug-resistant-bacteria
4. https://sciencenews.dk/en/harnessing-bacteria-to-fight-type-2-diabetes
5. https://sciencenews.dk/en/unexpected-chain-reaction-leads-to-mass-destruction-of-bad-bacteria