Jennifer DuBois
Montana State University, MT·Biochemistry
Iron is a double-edged nutrient. Iron-deficiency anemia is the most common nutritional disorder worldwide, affecting nearly a third of people.
- Fields
Biochemistry
Microbiology & Immunology
- Topics
heme
iron metabolism
gut microbiome
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Feb 2031
What they work on
- Determine the structure, function, regulation and molecular interactions of the heme utilization (hmu) pathway in the gut bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, and identify its metabolic end products.
- Define how B. thetaiotaomicron and three other non-pathogenic gut strains with different heme strategies work together to metabolize heme iron, by co-culturing them in chemically defined liquid media and spatially organized biofilms.
- Test how species interactions, the hmu operon and chemically defined dietary iron shape heme iron metabolism in a gnotobiotic mouse model. Ask whether heme consumption by hmu could protect against heme-related pathology.
More about the research
Yet heme, the iron-carrying molecule abundant in red meat, has been linked to gut disorders ranging from inflammation to colon cancer when it is left unmetabolized. Little is known about how the beneficial bacteria living in the gut transform dietary iron, or how this affects the host's iron uptake and health.
Why it matters
Dietary heme is a highly available iron source. When it is poorly processed, however, it is associated with colitis, colon cancer and metabolic syndrome, while iron deficiency causes widespread anemia. Learning how beneficial gut bacteria break down heme could inform probiotic strategies that improve iron uptake from food and help prevent iron-related gut diseases.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
James Collins
University of Florida, FL·Physiology
Test whether high blood iron in Th3/+ mouse mothers, a β-thalassemia model, loads fetuses with iron and causes oxidative stress that damages developing tissues and leads to disease after birth.
Yvette Yien
University of Pittsburgh, PA·Biochemistry
Determine how the mitochondrial unfoldase CLPX regulates PPOX and FECH, the final two enzymes of heme synthesis, in differentiating red blood cells.
Kevin Staveley-O'Carroll
University of Connecticut, CT·Microbiology & Immunology
Dissect how Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron changes dendritic cells and macrophages through the KLF2 and TLR9 pathways to strengthen anti-HCC immunity, using a mouse liver cancer model with a trackable tumor antigen.
The school
Montana State University: 15 labs on PI Pages, $258M a year on research, 85 research doctorates a year.
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