Focus on research: Prof Liam O’Mahony, APC Microbiome Ireland
Liam O’Mahony is is principal investigator at Research Ireland centre APC Microbiome Ireland in University College Cork. In this interview he talks about his work and the role of gut microbes in regulating the immune system.
Tell us about your background?
I have a BSc in Microbiology from University College Cork and a PhD in Immunology from Trinity College Dublin. I previously worked as a research scientist at UCC, UCLA USA, and SIAF, University of Zurich, Switzerland, before returning to UCC in 2018 as Professor of Immunology in the Department of Medicine and School of Microbiology, and a principal investigator at APC Microbiome Ireland.
What is the key focus area of your research?
I’m interested in understanding the mechanisms underpinning how the immune system is regulated, so it responds correctly to protect against challenges such as infection by pathogens, but doesn’t overreact resulting in tissue damage. Also this research helps us understand how the immune system reacts inappropriately to non-pathogenic molecules, such as harmless food proteins that results in food allergy.
What sparked your interest in the area of gut microbes?
From our research and the research of many others, I realised that several of the molecules that regulate the immune system are not generated by human cells at all but are only generated by gut microbes. The microbes that make these immune regulatory molecules, and consequently the molecules themselves, are often at lower levels in people with immune mediated diseases. Immune mediated diseases include all diseases where an uncontrolled immune response contributes to the pathology, examples include allergies, asthma, and inflammatory bowel disease.
This led us to hypothesise that these immune regulatory metabolites are expected and evolutionarily hardwired into our immune system decision-making processes. For example, our most recent publication in Gut Microbes shows that microbial metabolism of the amino acid tryptophan generates immune regulatory molecules, and these microbes and molecules are lower in people that poorly respond to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
What real-world applications are there for your research?
Now that we are identifying the specific microbes and metabolites required for a properly regulated immune system, we can design interventions that replace these microbes and their metabolites to support the regulatory feedback mechanisms that restrain the devastating overproduction of inflammatory mediators that result from a poorly regulated immune response. In addition, these microbes and metabolites may help accelerate resolution of inflammation in patients with chronic symptoms following infection, such as those with long Covid.
Are there any future directions that excite you in your area?
It’s well known that long-term dietary habits associate with risk of immune-mediated diseases. However, we now think that the regulatory effects of diet on the immune system may be mediated largely indirectly by dietary effects on the microbiome. Thus, integrating diet-microbe interactions into our research on immune health is really exciting as we may better understand the reasons why some people develop disease, and identify more meaningful approaches to prevent and treat immune-mediated diseases.
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