Speaker: Dr Stéphanie Blanquet-Diot, University of Clermont Auvergne, will present seminar entitled : Use of in vitro digestion models for an in-depth understanding of food-borne pathogens behaviour in the human GIT and their interactions with probiotics

Host: Stephanie Schuller

Abstract:
Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) are major food-borne pathogens responsible for human diseases ranging from uncomplicated diarrhea to life-threatening complications. As no specific treatment is available and as antibiotic therapy has worsened clinical outcomes, alternative strategies using probiotics are under consideration. We used original and relevant in vitro models of the human gut to better understand how EHEC O157:H7 survives throughout the human gastrointestinal tract and how the pathogen modulates the expression of virulence genes.

The effect of different parameters has been assessed such as age conditions (adult vs young children – a high-risk population for EHEC infection), strains and food matrices. We also explored the anti-infectious potential of a probiotic yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae on EHEC O157:H7 survival and virulence in the digestive environment. Our study contributes to a better understanding of EHEC physiopathology and assessed the relevance of a probiotic-based approach in the control of EHEC infections.

Biography:
Engineer in Food Science, Stéphanie Blanquet-Diot has a PhD in Biotechnology, Nutrition and Health (2002) and is qualified to supervise research (HDR) since 2009. Since 2002, she has been an associate professor at the University of Clermont Auvergne (UCA) in France, in the mix unit UMR 454 INRA-UCA MEDIS “Microbiology, Digestive Environment and Health”.

She currently leads a research group on zoonotic pathogens. She has 15 years’ experience in artificial digestion/fermentation, nutrition and microbiology with a specific focus on probiotics and food-borne pathogens. She is currently leading research programs on pathogenic Escherichia coli (EHEC and ETEC), probiotics and gut microbiota dysbiosis.

All staff from organisations on the Research Park are welcome to attend.