Carmel Sochen: “Trying to understand the communication between the microbiome, immune cells and the gut”

“He intestine “It will do a lot more than you think,” he says. Carmel Sochenwho has been asking since childhood how wounds heal or why is sugar sweet. She read a lot to find the answers until she fell asleep on the couch.

Now, thoughts get a doctorate in immunology in it Weizmann Institute of Sciences in Israeland wants to understand basic biology intestine and related diseases.

In yours first visit to Latin Americaattended the meeting in Buenos Aires “Tomorrow’s Scientists” exclusively organized by Infobae and Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel.

The young scientist focuses her passion for knowledge on understanding how the different cells of the gut communicate with each other in the gut. immune system as he microbiomein order to protect the human organism from invading pathogens.

His attention today is focused on “tuft cells”, which were characterized in 1956, but which proved difficult to study.

In recent decades, these cells have been identified in multiple organs, such as the thymus, urethra, stomach, respiratory tract, and recently also in precancerous lesions of the pancreas.

Recent technological developments have allowed them to begin unraveling the functions of tuft cells in the digestive systemand Sochen is trying to understand what exactly happens when the balance between the digestive system, the immune system and the microbiome is disrupted.

The young woman was born in Israel and studied biology. In 2017, he completed his master’s degree in immunology and regenerative biology and then decided to do a PhD in the laboratory of a scientist Moshe Biton.

During one of the master’s courses, Sochen was surprised when they talked about it stem cells and the professor said that “the gut doesn’t just digest food.” Food can come with “intruders“, which can be dangerous for the human organism. They can cause intestinal damage.

“As our gut needs to maintain its health, it regenerates itself. We have a new gut every 5 dayshe said. The stem cells that exist in the organ intervene in this process, and everything fascinated the biologist. By discovering that world, he found something else.

“Another surprise discovery was that we have cells in the gut that can sense bitter taste and umami,” he said. Umami is a flavor found in fish, green tea, and products such as soy sauce. The same gut sensors are also on the tongue and “no one knows why”.

“I’ve got to get into it,” he said to himself as he was choosing a topic for his PhD, arriving at the cells of the plume, which he considers to be similar to the hair of a dissolute Bart Simpson, one of the protagonists of the animated television series.

In addition to the plume, there are others 6 types of cells in the intestine. One type is one that digests food and forms a barrier between the outside and inside of the intestine. The rest perform other functions.

Additionally, there is a community of microorganisms that make up the “microbiome” and “are in close communication with the intestinal cells and work together to digest our food. They are important for our health,” said Sochen, who in his free time enjoys singing, playing the guitar, and practicing yoga, among other things.

There are various invaders – Sochen mentioned – that want to enter the body through the digestive system. But cells the immune system offers another layer of protection. The good communication between the three components, i.e. gut cells, immune system cells and the microbiomeare essential for maintaining gut health and function.

When there is a disruption between these components, diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, food allergies and colorectal cancer can occur. “They are all increasing and we don’t have a very good treatment. Because? Because we don’t understand biology enough to create appropriate solutions,” he said.

Better technologies are now available, and Sochen and his Weizmann colleagues are using RNA sequencing from single cells. Using bioinformatics tools, they then reconstruct 3D images that enable unbiased analysis. In this way, “we appreciate the contribution of each cell to the functioning of the gut as a whole,” he explained.

Within the entire complexity of the digestive system, the biologist tries to clarify how tufted cells play. “My hypothesis is that tuft cells can use their receptors to sense the microbiome and then respond by secreting different immune signals, different cytokines,” he explained.

To test it, he created a mini-gut organoid in the laboratory. It has different types of cells of the true intestine. “We were lucky to find a bacterial signal that activated tuft cells and caused them to secrete the cytokine IL-25,” he said.

They speculate that tuft cells can sense the microbiome and then this information is secreted. cytokine IL-25which is detected by immune cells. Then cytokine IL-13which is detected by intestinal stem cells. “It’s an instruction for the stem cells to change their fate. “They adjust their differentiation towards a particular cell,” he said. In this way, they become tufted cells.

However, the mystery of these cells is not yet fully understood. The biologist is trying to clarify how they interact with the microbiome and what is the process that specifically leads to inflammatory diseases.

“I’m not only studying these cells, but also how they communicate.” “I’m trying to understand the big picture,” he noted Infobae-. I’m trying to understand how tuft cells interact with the microbiome and immune cells and how that affects the gut as a whole. “If we understand the type of communication between the microbiome and tuft cells and the fact that cells interact with immune cells and that plays a role in disease, I can understand something bigger than just cells.”

He was part of the Sochen program this year while conducting this basic research Bina Innovation Fellow, through which company representatives taught him how to ensure that knowledge could be transferred as an invention from academia.

* Photo: Adrián Escándar. Video: Matías Arbotto, Gastón Taylor, Alejandro Beltrame