The Quadram Institute Bioscience (QIB) and SKAN Research Trust have forged a Comprehensive Partnership Agreement on May 19, 2023, to jointly address gut health and pioneer gut-based therapies for combating ageing and neurological diseases. QIB, a prominent UK national science entity, is dedicated to advancing healthier lives through innovations in gut health, microbiology, and food sciences.
The collaboration outlines various key areas of cooperation, including joint research projects in the UK and India to develop microbiome-based products for human health, technology transfer from QIB to SKAN, training of SKAN research scientists at QIB, and the study of large Indian population cohorts to formulate therapies tailored to India’s unique health challenges (ageing and neurological diseases). A specific research project, “Development of Phage Therapies to Alleviate Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease”, has been identified under this collaboration. Dr Arjan Narbad from QIB and Dr Yogesh Shouche from SKAN will serve as principal investigators for this endeavour.
The project aims to investigate the role of sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) in the development of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and explore phage therapy as a targeted strategy for controlling SRB in the gut to potentially alleviate PD symptoms. Furthermore, three SKAN research scientists will undergo a year-long training program at QIB, supervised by Dr Arjan Narbad.
SKAN will cover the training fees and consumables cost amounting to GBP 20,000 annually for each scientist. The training is expected to commence by the end of 2023. The overarching objectives of the research project involve conducting a comparative microbiome analysis of PD patients and healthy individuals, isolating and characterizing SRB and SRB-specific bacteriophages, and exploring the biocontrol of SRBs using phage therapy. The collaboration between QIB and SKAN holds promise for advancing scientific understanding and potential therapeutic interventions in the critical field of gut health and neurological diseases.