Imagine your gut as a garden where the right 'fertilizer' helps good bacteria thrive and keeps the fence strong against disease. This work identifies specific rare sugars from breast milk that act as this fertilizer for adults. By using AI, the team can predict exactly which sugar works for which person based on their diet and gender.
Current prebiotic solutions are often generic and lack the precision to treat specific non-communicable diseases. There is a gap in the market for rare, bioactive human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) that can be tailored to a patient's gender and diet.
A library of 200+ glycosyltransferase enzymes and a set of rare HMOs tested via a simulated gut microenvironment (SiFR®) and cell models.
If you are a prebiotic manufacturer dealing with a lack of diverse, high-efficacy ingredients — this project developed a library of over 14 previously inaccessible HMOs that can be used as high-value additives for gut health products.
If you are a biotech developer dealing with chronic inflammatory diseases — this project developed a validated HMO candidate ready for a clinical trial to alleviate inflammation under specific diets.
If you are a health app provider dealing with generic dietary advice — this project developed machine learning and NLP pipelines to predict glycan applications stratified by gender, diet, and health conditions.
Based on available project data, specific pricing or production costs for the HMOs are not provided.
The project involves Inbiose, an industry partner specializing in glycoengineering and biosynthesis, suggesting a path toward scaling, though specific industrial volume data is not listed.
Based on available project data, the project aims to identify over 5 novel glycosyltransferase enzymes, but specific licensing terms are not disclosed.
The project runs from 2024-09-01 to 2028-08-31, with the goal of having at least one HMO ready for a clinical trial by the end of the period.
The project uses a human-microbial crosstalk (HuMiX) model and SiFR® technology to test interactions before moving to clinical stages.
The consortium is a lean, high-efficiency partnership between one academic powerhouse (Utrecht University) and one industry SME (Inbiose). With a 50% industry ratio, the project is balanced between fundamental research and commercial application, specifically leveraging Inbiose's capacity for glycoengineering and biosynthesis to ensure the research translates into tangible products.
Contact the research lead at Universiteit Utrecht regarding the HuMiX model
Request access to the HMO structure-function dataset
