‘transpoosion’ for a healthy gut
Professor Phil Hansbro's research on the devastating lung disease emphysema, and the role of the microbiome in the gut in this disease, was featured on the ABC's Catalyst program.
The program aired the second episode of a two-part special 'Gut Reaction'. This episode revealed new research about the interplay between food and bacteria within our guts.
An Associate Director of the University's Priority Research Centre for Asthma and Respiratory Disease, Professor Hansbro has an extensive track record as a program leader in the study of respiratory infections and their interactions with obstructive airway diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive airway disease (COPD). His research has identified the potential for the development of novel prevention and treatment studies for respiratory disease. One such novel development is 'transpoosion'.
A leading cause of emphysema is smoking. Hansbro and his team's research has found that smoking can affect the microbiome of the gut – however, they have also found that it might be possible to switch a bad emphysema-related microbiome for a healthy one – via a faecal transplant, or 'transpoosion'. Faeces contains gut bacteria. By taking faeces from a healthy person and putting them in the gut of someone suffering disease such as emphysema, the new gut bacteria will treat the disease symptoms – which may also be called repoopulation !!
Professor Hansbro's research on a potential treatment for emphysema was aired on Catalyst on Thursday 21 August, 2014.
Find out more
- Watch the episode on the Catalyst website
- Professor Phil Hansbro's research profile
- Priority Research Centre for Asthma and Respiratory Diseases
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