Research Spotlight: Gut Microbiome Shapes Growth
The gut microbiome plays a pivotal role in our health, even before we're born. As part of the Child Health Research Center, the Cowardin Lab focuses on understanding how the gut microbiota during pregnancy and early life affects lifelong immune response and health.
Carrie Cowardin, MD, shares why this research has implications that could improve health through precisely timed interventions. You can read about her research here.
Cowardin: The thing I love most about my research is how thrilling it is to discover something that no one else has ever seen before. My lab works on the gut microbiome, which is home to trillions of microbes that interact with the human body in many different ways. It's a really complex system, and so there's still a lot we don’t understand about how it works.
That means every day in the lab is really different, and I'm always learning something new. I also love interacting with the trainees at UVA who are just really fun and so smart and talented, and they make this job really rewarding and fun.
Cowardin: My name is Carrie Cowardin, and I'm an associate professor in the department of pediatrics. My lab studies how nutrition and the gut microbiome control immune development in early life. We're really focused on childhood undernutrition, which unfortunately, is still really common.
Cowardin: Current treatments for undernutrition are not very effective, and so we're looking for ways that we can use the gut microbiome to try to improve intestinal function in these children and improve their ability to grow in early life. We're also interested in expanding these studies to US-based populations, such as infants born preterm.
Cowardin: I'm really motivated to see our research have a tangible impact on child health, both within the US and globally. Right now, one of our projects is focused on identifying dietary ingredients that can boost beneficial bacteria in the preterm infant gut. We're hopeful that this will eventually lead to a treatment that we can create in collaboration with the Manning Institute for Biotechnology.
What are you working on right now?
My lab studies how nutrition impacts the gut microbiome to shape child growth and immune development, with two major projects currently underway. The first project looks at how a specific immune pathway causes growth stunting and inflammation in children with undernutrition. The second project focuses on how dietary nutritional deficiencies impact immune cells in the gut. Together, these projects help us understand how specific nutrients and microbes interact to shape the development of the immune system.
What are the most intriguing potential clinical applications of your work?
Growing evidence shows that the gut microbiome influences many aspects of human health, spanning from the brain and heart to the musculoskeletal system. We’re excited about how our research could advance healthy child development during the critical early years of growth. Our goal is to create targeted nutritional therapies and precision probiotics that support strong, well-balanced immune systems, giving children the best foundation for lifelong health.
What recent discovery/paper/presentation has impacted the way you think?
Recent work has shown that nutritional therapies designed to shift the gut microbiome towards a healthier configuration could improve the growth and development of children with undernutrition. This work has opened the door for a similar approach to developing nutritional therapies for other conditions that impact development in early life, such as infections and inflammatory diseases.
What made you choose UVA Health as the place to do your research?
I chose UVA Health because of the incredible community of scientists, physicians, and health professionals here. As a former UVA grad (Biology, ‘10; Microbiology, ‘15) UVA is a special place to me. After moving away for my postdoctoral training, I always hoped to come back to UVA to start my own research lab. I really believe that the people at UVA are our greatest strength. The culture here is that everyone collaborates and works together to achieve great things. The research at UVA is absolutely top-notch, but the atmosphere of support and teamwork really sets our institution apart.
What do you wish more people knew about your area of research?
I wish more people knew how much we don’t yet understand about the gut microbiome. Detailed research into the microbiome has only been possible for the last 10-15 years, so it’s a fairly new area of study. It’s also a complicated one because our bodies contain so many different types of microbes, and each of us is unique. Our understanding is expanding every day, but there’s still so much to learn. There can be a tendency for people to either overstate what we do know, or to disregard the role of the microbiome entirely. As with most things, the truth is likely somewhere in the middle.
How did you become interested in your area of research?
As the daughter of a clinical microbiologist, I’ve always been interested in microbes and the huge impacts they have on our health. After studying an intestinal pathogen during my PhD, I was drawn to learn more about the beneficial bacteria that help protect us from disease. From a scientific perspective, I love the complexity of the gut ecosystem. On a personal level, I find it immensely gratifying to be able to work on projects that will one day improve child health.
