Interview
Zooming in on microbiomes: researching the intestinal bacteria of babies
As important as gut bacteria are to humans, they are born without them. Athanasia Ioannou is trying to discover the role breast milk plays in the formation of bacterial communities in the infant gut, and she explains what drives her as a scientist.
Zooming in on microbiomes
Bacteria, moulds and other micro-organisms aren’t on their own. All over the world, these tiniest of creatures form communities. In plants, animals and in the soil: from globe to gut. To celebrate WUR’s Dies Natalis, we join three young scientists and zoom in.
This is the first story in this series. Also read the next story on bacterial genes.
After both Bachelor’s and Master’s theses on the communities of bacteria in the animal and human gut, Athanasia Ioannou now studies them in babies for her PhD. She is one of three young scientists who will present their research during Wageningen University & Research’s Dies Natalis. “As you may know, the human intestinal system is full of what we call good bacteria,” Ioannou explains. “The communities they form – microbiomes – are essential to us. The thing is, only after birth do babies start to accumulate bacteria. What I want to know is: how does breast milk contribute to forming that first baby gut microbiome?”
Ioannou was born in Greece and came to Wageningen University & Research (WUR) for its renowned biology programmes. “It is actually my grandfather who put me onto Wageningen. In the seventies, he studied at WUR’s first-ever English-language Master: Soil Science and Water Management.” Half a century divides them, but Ioannou and her grandfather share an innate curiosity. “Right now, I’m in the last stage of my research, trying to piece together the puzzle. I’m eager to see the full picture!”
Enthusiasm, curiosity and determination
“We know that breast milk has significant effects on the microbiome of a baby’s intestinal system, but we don’t know much about why and how,” says Ioannou. To learn more, she set up synthetic communities of gut bacteria. Ioannou is quick to explain that these are not artificially made bacteria but rather controlled experimental set-ups in which selections of gut bacteria are brought together. “We then introduce human milk sugars and monitor how the communities react and grow. Currently, all that remains is to analyse the data these experiments yielded.”
Talking about her experience of this research project, Ioannou emphasises the value of enthusiasm, curiosity, and determination. “The start of your research is all potential—it’s great, there’s so much you could learn. Then, as you develop your experiments, you move into a phase of trial and error. How will you ever make this work? That bewilderment, I try to remind myself, is what science is all about. As a scientist, I’m learning the art of perseverance. Try, and try again, with a new perspective, a new approach. This time, you’ll get it.”
The value of fundamental research
Like a lot of scientists at WUR, Ioannou does fundamental research. She asks questions about the nature of the world around us, knowing that greater understanding will form a stepping stone for future colleagues to build upon. “Moreover, I’m also helping to develop a method of research further. Future research or innovation can make use of my insights on the infant human gut, but they might also use what I’ve learned about synthetic bacterial communities.” Thanks to that accumulated effort, future babies and scientists alike might well enjoy the fruits of Ioannou’s labour.
Athanasia Ioannou (29)
Athanasia Iouannou is a PhD candidate at the Laboratory of Microbiology.
‘We recreated the dependences between bacteria in the presence of human milk sugars to understand how they form a community.