Melinda Engevik
Medical University of South Carolina, SC·Microbiology & Immunology
The human gut is lined with mucus, a slippery barrier that protects the intestine. Trillions of helpful bacteria live alongside it.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Physiology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
gut microbiome
gut microbiota
commensal bacteria
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2029
What they work on
- Identify the bacterial compounds produced directly from the breakdown of mucin glycoproteins by gut bacteria, using metabolomics.
- Determine how commensal gut bacteria grow as communities in intestinal mucus and which aspects of bacterial signaling mucus regulates, using microbiology and transcriptomic approaches.
- Find bacterial metabolites that increase mucus production by host goblet cells, using metabolomics and host-microbe interaction studies.
More about the research
Mucus is made mostly of mucins, sugar-coated proteins. It is more than a shield: it feeds bacteria and serves as a platform for chemical signals between microbes and host. Some bacteria break mucus down and share the products with species that cannot. But much remains unknown. It is unclear how mucus shapes bacterial communities and their communication, and how bacteria in turn push the gut to make more mucus.
Why it matters
Many gut diseases are linked to disruptions in gut bacteria and the mucus barrier. Learning which bacterial compounds come from mucus breakdown and which ones boost mucus production could suggest new ways to support gut health. It could also inform efforts to reduce diseases tied to an unbalanced gut microbiome.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Sujit Datta
California Institute of Technology, CA·Biophysics·Early-career
Evaluate how mucin glycans, the sugar chains attached to the proteins forming mucus, select for particular microbes within natural microbial communities.
Santiago Cuesta
Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ·Neuroscience·Early-career
Identify how psychostimulant exposure changes gut microbial composition and the gut's chemical environment, using metagenomics to profile microbial DNA and metabolomics to measure small molecules.
Nita Salzman
Medical College of Wisconsin, WI·Microbiology & Immunology
Identify which intestinal cells, including enterocytes, Paneth cells and fibroblasts, produce complement component 3 (C3) in the distal small intestine of mice colonized with the commensal bacterium Enterococcus faecalis.
The school
Medical University of South Carolina: 19 labs on PI Pages, $321M a year on research, 271 research doctorates a year.
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