Our postdoctoral researcher Eleftheria Charalambous presented our latest findings at the 12th Grainau Workshop of Genetic Epidemiology in Grainau, Germany. With her talk “The gut phageome is associated with brain ageing” she sparked insightful conversations with other researchers. Dr. Charalambous studies the link between bacteriophages in the gut microbiome and the brain. Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria and are thought to be important drivers for microbiome composition and function. She particularly focuses on ageing as well as the ageing brain, investigating how these microbes could influence cognitive function over time.

Dr. Charalambous’s research indicates that the ‘gut phageome’ and the overall gut microbial ecosystem have an indispensable role in maintaining brain function and potentially manipulating age-associated neurodegenerative pathologies. The ‘gut phageome’ is defined as the totality of all bacteriophage genetic material within the gut. Dr. Charalambous’s objective is to decipher in deep detail how fluctuations in the overall phageome associate with the process of brain ageing. Based on brain ageing scores inferred from brain imaging outputs, she discovered that certain types of phages are present in healthy ageing brains, while others increase their abundance during initial stages of Alzheimer’s Diseases.

The Grainau meeting has shown us the urgency and importance of investigating microbe-host as well as gut–brain interactions, but also of developing early screening and intervention measures for age-related neurodegenerative diseases and brain health in general. This research opens up new avenues for exploring how the gut microbiome could be leveraged to promote healthy brain ageing.