Projects - MP (Mohak) Gujare MSc
Microbiome signatures of Pig Intestinal health
Post-weaning diarrhoea (PWD) in piglets is one of the major causes of death of piglets in the pig industry. My research project is a part of a larger multidisciplinary consortium named PIG-PARADIGM that has the strategic aim to reduce the need for antibiotic use and risk of Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) in pork production by deciphering the key-determinants of intestinal health in pigs and translating this knowledge into strategies to enhance pig health and robustness.
The primary aim of my project is to find prognostic microbiome biomarkers during the pre-weaning phase of life of piglets, which can predict PWD before diarrhoea develops using multivariate statistical modelling and machine learning approaches. The eventual prognostic microbiome biomarkers will be translated to a quick prognostic toolkit (quantitative PCR based) that enables the early-recognition of PWD-predisposed piglets in pig-studies (with or without intervention regiments) within or outside the PIG-PARADIGM project as well as in pig production practice.
The secondary aim of this project is to characterize gut microbiome development patterns in robust, resilient and antibiotic treated diarrhoea piglets using rectal swab time-series sampling. Additionally, by using shotgun metagenomic sequencing techniques, we aim to identify functional (metabolic) microbiome signatures that are associated with the prognostic microbiome biomarkers, which can be harnessed in the rational design of targeted interventions that aim to correct undesired functional properties by, for example, the inclusion of specific dietary ingredients in pre-weaning creep-feed strategies.
We anticipate that this innovative approach will deepen our knowledge of the microbiome development during early-life of piglets, which we aim to capitalize for the enhancement of pig intestinal resilience, to reduce diarrheal disease incidence and severity, to ultimately reduce antimicrobial use in the pig industry.
