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a robot says " if you go near this child , i will have no choice but to kill you "

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Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · May 2

To see if it reduces methylmercury to levels that are biologically meaningful, we tested it in pregnant mice. The bacterium reduced methylmercury bioaccumulation in maternal & fetal tissues, including brain, & reduced signs of toxicity in fetal brains from dams fed tuna or salmon

ALT: a robot says " if you go near this child , i will have no choice but to kill you "

a man is talking to a woman and the words eliminate it are on the screen behind him

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Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · May 2

To put it to the real test, Amina got a bluefin tuna from a fish market & processed it into a fine powder. The bacterium reduced fish methylmercury when in culture & when monocolonized in mice that were fed fish-based chow. It even worked by oral gavage to conventional mice!

ALT: a man is talking to a woman and the words eliminate it are on the screen behind him

a cartoon drawing of bacteria with the words party time written below them

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Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · May 2

Kristie engineered the gut bacterium B. thetaiotaomicron to express enzymes that reduce methylmercury into forms that are less toxic & easily excreted, and showed the bacterium quickly reduces methylmercury in culture & in the guts of mice orally gavaged with methylmercury

ALT: a cartoon drawing of bacteria with the words party time written below them

a cartoon of spongebob with a question mark in a thought bubble

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Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · May 2

This made us wonder, if certain soil microbes survive by detoxifying methylmercury from their environment, could we use a microbe to detoxify methylmercury that enters the gut environment from eating mercury-containing fish?

ALT: a cartoon of spongebob with a question mark in a thought bubble

Potential of Organic Mercury-resistant Bacteria Isolated from Mercury Contaminated Sites for Organic Mercury Remediation - PubMed

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Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · May 2

We were inspired by work by Fatimawali, Kepel, and Tallei at Sam Ratulangi University that found mercury-resistant soil bacteria from a polluted gold mine
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30796768/

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Climate change and overfishing increase neurotoxicant in marine predators - Nature

Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · May 2

We learned from Amina’s foundational research that levels of the neurotoxicant methylmercury are rising in fish, which poses a major issue for the billions of people iwho rely on fish as a major source of nutrition. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Overfishing and warming ocean temperature have caused an increase in methylmercury concentrations in some Atlantic predatory fish, and this trend is predicted to continue unless stronger mercury and c...

www.nature.com

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Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · May 2

This all began with a chance meeting at Scialog meeting by @RCSA1—think science speed-dating with rapid seed funding- a fun and impactful way to advance new ideas. Thanks to @RCSA1 for supporting collaborative, interdisciplinary research & making this work possible! newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/red...

Designer microbe shows promise for reducing mercury absorption from seafood

UCLA and UCSD research suggests a probiotic could one day increase the benefits of eating fish.

newsroom.ucla.edu

An engineered gut bacterium protects against dietary methylmercury exposure in pregnant mice

Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · May 2

Thrilled to share this collaborative work by Kristie Yu, Francis Chandra, Amina Schartup and teams @Scripps_Ocean and @UCLA showing that an engineered gut bacterium can be used to reduce the neurotoxic effects of dietary methylmercury www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Yu and Chandra et al. engineered a commensal gut microbe, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, to detoxify methylmercury (MeHg). The engineered bacterium reduces MeHg in the intestinal lumen, limits its accu...

www.cell.com

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Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · May 2

Lots more to do and improve, but overall, this was an exciting proof of concept showing that i) a gut bacterium can be used to offset environmental risk for neurotoxicity and ii) bacterial treatment of pregnant mice has the capacity to protect the brains of their fetuses.

a green cartoon character is giving a thumbs up sign

ALT: a green cartoon character is giving a thumbs up sign

a robot says " if you go near this child , i will have no choice but to kill you "

Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · May 2

To see if it reduces methylmercury to levels that are biologically meaningful, we tested it in pregnant mice. The bacterium reduced methylmercury bioaccumulation in maternal & fetal tissues, including brain, & reduced signs of toxicity in fetal brains from dams fed tuna or salmon

ALT: a robot says " if you go near this child , i will have no choice but to kill you "

a man is talking to a woman and the words eliminate it are on the screen behind him

Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · May 2

To put it to the real test, Amina got a bluefin tuna from a fish market & processed it into a fine powder. The bacterium reduced fish methylmercury when in culture & when monocolonized in mice that were fed fish-based chow. It even worked by oral gavage to conventional mice!

ALT: a man is talking to a woman and the words eliminate it are on the screen behind him

a cartoon drawing of bacteria with the words party time written below them

Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · May 2

Kristie engineered the gut bacterium B. thetaiotaomicron to express enzymes that reduce methylmercury into forms that are less toxic & easily excreted, and showed the bacterium quickly reduces methylmercury in culture & in the guts of mice orally gavaged with methylmercury

ALT: a cartoon drawing of bacteria with the words party time written below them

a cartoon of spongebob with a question mark in a thought bubble

Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · May 2

This made us wonder, if certain soil microbes survive by detoxifying methylmercury from their environment, could we use a microbe to detoxify methylmercury that enters the gut environment from eating mercury-containing fish?

ALT: a cartoon of spongebob with a question mark in a thought bubble

Potential of Organic Mercury-resistant Bacteria Isolated from Mercury Contaminated Sites for Organic Mercury Remediation - PubMed

Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · May 2

We were inspired by work by Fatimawali, Kepel, and Tallei at Sam Ratulangi University that found mercury-resistant soil bacteria from a polluted gold mine
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30796768/

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Climate change and overfishing increase neurotoxicant in marine predators - Nature

Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · May 2

We learned from Amina’s foundational research that levels of the neurotoxicant methylmercury are rising in fish, which poses a major issue for the billions of people iwho rely on fish as a major source of nutrition. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Overfishing and warming ocean temperature have caused an increase in methylmercury concentrations in some Atlantic predatory fish, and this trend is predicted to continue unless stronger mercury and c...

www.nature.com

Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · May 2

This all began with a chance meeting at Scialog meeting by RCSA — think science speed-dating with rapid seed funding- a fun and impactful way to advance new ideas. Thanks to RCSA for supporting collaborative, interdisciplinary research & making this work possible!

JCI - The microbiome as a modulator of neurological health across the maternal-offspring interface

Reposted by Elaine Hsiao

Stephanie Orchanian @stephorch.bsky.social · Feb 17

Curious about how the gut microbiome modulates the neurological health of pregnant women and their offspring? Check out my recent review with @pipethero.bsky.social out now @jclinical-invest.bsky.social! 🦠🤰👶🧠

www.jci.org/articles/vie...

www.jci.org

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Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · Jan 29

Huge thanks to Kelly Jameson who fearlessly led this study (& overcame the many technical hurdles of doing so!) together with invaluable guidance from Felix Schweizer! Also to Sabeen Kazmi, Taka Ohara,
Celine Son, Kristie Yu & colleagues for helping to make it possible.

a group of people are standing next to each other in a hallway and one of them is wearing a tank top .

ALT: a group of people are standing next to each other in a hallway and one of them is wearing a tank top .

a man is driving a car with the words vegas baby written above him

Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · Jan 29

Overall, this work adds key details to existing work on how microbes & their metabolites interact with vagal neurons. It shows that they can do so when applied to the lumen of the small intestine & when considering the specific subsets of metabolites that come from the microbiome

ALT: a man is driving a car with the words vegas baby written above him

a man singing into a microphone with the words we are on a different flow behind him

Elaine Hsiao @pipethero.bsky.social · Jan 29

By stacking stimuli for in vivo calcium imaging, the SCFAs, BAs, and 3-IS seemed to activate some distinct subsets of vagal neurons, with some acting faster vs. slower than others.

ALT: a man singing into a microphone with the words we are on a different flow behind him