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Reposted by Chris Stewart

Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · Jul 14

Introducing a new gut microbiology journal, aptly titled Gut Microbiology.

All Article Publishing Charges (APCs) are waived for 2 years!

Please send your exciting research our way.

www.sciencedirect.com/journal/gut-...

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Reposted by Chris Stewart

Microbes in Health and Disease @mhd-newcastle.bsky.social · 15d

The @stewartlab.bsky.social use systems biology and cutting-edge human intestinal organoid models to understand diet-microbe-host interaction across the life course, with the ambition to discover novel therapies to improve gut health.

www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-scie...

www.neonatalresearch.net

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Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · Jul 14

Introducing a new gut microbiology journal, aptly titled Gut Microbiology.

All Article Publishing Charges (APCs) are waived for 2 years!

Please send your exciting research our way.

www.sciencedirect.com/journal/gut-...

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Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · May 20

Led by Emily Wroot, I present our recent Comment in @natmicrobiol.nature.com

"Opportunities for microbiome-based therapeutics in preterm infants"

Hopefully this provides a timely insight for clinicians and researchers interested in preterm infants, and beyond!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Opportunities for microbiome-based therapeutics in preterm infants - Nature Microbiology

Microbial-based and microorganism-targeting therapies are emerging to prevent or treat preterm infant complications, but more preclinical research and clinical evidence is needed.

www.nature.com

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Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · May 17

Thank you ☺️

Reposted by Chris Stewart

Muzz Haniffa @mhaniffa.bsky.social · May 17

Many congratulations @stewartlab.bsky.social on this amazing achievement - so richly deserved - #BlavatnikAwards Life Sciences Laureate 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 🎉

Very happy for you and great interview 👇🏾

The Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine @thelisterinstitute.bsky.social · Apr 28

In our latest blog post we catch up with #BlavatnikAwards Life Sciences Laureate @stewartlab.bsky.social, who recently attended the Blavatnik Awards ceremony and public symposium and gave talks about his preventive health work on preterm infant microbiomes 🫄👶 lister-institute.org.uk/congratulati...

Congratulations Chris Stewart, 2025 Blavatnik Laureate for Life Sciences – Lister Institute

lister-institute.org.uk

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Reposted by Chris Stewart

The Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine @thelisterinstitute.bsky.social · Apr 28

In our latest blog post we catch up with #BlavatnikAwards Life Sciences Laureate @stewartlab.bsky.social, who recently attended the Blavatnik Awards ceremony and public symposium and gave talks about his preventive health work on preterm infant microbiomes 🫄👶 lister-institute.org.uk/congratulati...

Congratulations Chris Stewart, 2025 Blavatnik Laureate for Life Sciences – Lister Institute

lister-institute.org.uk

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Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · Apr 2

Thank you!

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Reposted by Chris Stewart

Neil Rajan @derm-scientist.bsky.social · Mar 27

The amazing Prof Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social gives his inaugural lecture👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

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Reposted by Chris Stewart

The Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine @thelisterinstitute.bsky.social · Apr 2

We had the pleasure of interviewing Chris earlier this week for the Lister Institute blog, and were excited to learn about his team's new preprint: a game-changer in understanding how human breast milk influences the infant microbiome.

Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · Jan 28

Introducing our latest preprint which discovered Clostridium sp. grow on HMOs. Using computational and experimental approaches we show this has beneficial consequences for the developing microbiome and the host. But there is nuance.

A 🧵...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Reposted by Chris Stewart

Newcastle University @newcastleuni.bsky.social · Mar 6

🎉 Congratulations to @stewartlab.bsky.social who has been named the Life Sciences Laureate at the 2025 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK 🎖️

Read more 👇
www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articl...

#WeAreNCL

Person wearing a black tuxedo and bow tie, smiling in front of a banner with the logos. They are adorned with a medal on a yellow ribbon.

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Reposted by Chris Stewart

Newcastle University Faculty of Medical Sciences @medicalsciencesncl.bsky.social · Mar 6

Huge congratulations to our colleague Professor Chris Stewart on receiving the esteemed Life Sciences Laureate at the Blavatnik Awards 2025!

This is a first for @newcastleuni.bsky.social and we couldn't be more proud of Chris & his ground-breaking research!

tinyurl.com/LaureateAward

Human microbiome researcher honoured with prestigious award

A leading young scientist is the first at Newcastle University to win an esteemed Blavatnik award.

tinyurl.com

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Reposted by Chris Stewart

Applied Microbiology International @amiposts.bsky.social · Feb 20

Congratulations to AMI member Dr Christopher Stewart of @newcastleuni.bsky.social who has been named as a finalist in the eighth Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK! He is the 2023 winner of AMI’s WH Pierce Prize for microbiology.

www.the-microbiologist.com/news/ami-mem...

AMI member Christopher Stewart named as finalist in 2025 UK Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists

Applied Microbiology International member Dr Christopher Stewart of Newcastle University has been named as a finalist for the eighth Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK. He is the 2023 win...

www.the-microbiologist.com

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Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · Feb 24

Fabulous meeting in Hong Kong by the New Cornerstone Science Foundation. It was great to meet so many researchers in person whose work I have admired for some time. Thanks for having me!

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Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · Jan 29

Really enjoyable discussion. Well done, Dolan!

Danna Gifford @dannagifford.bsky.social · Jan 29

Congratulations Dolan! 🎉 Thanks to external Chris Stewart for making the trip from Newcastle @stewartlab.bsky.social

MERMan Research Group (University of Manchester) @mermanchester.bsky.social · Jan 29

🎉 Congratulations to Dr Dolan Evans! Dolan defended his thesis on microbiota of the pre-term infant gut today @mermanchester.bsky.social @lydiabeckeriii.bsky.social

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Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · Jan 28

Main take-homes:
1) Clostridium lacking pfoA toxin may be beneficial to preterm health as a probiotic or postbiotic
2) Where infants are potentially colonised with pathogenic pfoA+ C. perf, these results caution against widespread HMO supplementation (e.g., of formula milk)

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Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · Jan 28

This work is only possible because of the amazing clinical team in Newcastle RVI. The Sanger team for the genome work. The whole of my team at @newcastleuni.bsky.social team for driving. And @wellcometrust.bsky.social and the Lister Institute for funding.

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Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · Jan 28

There is lots more in the preprint so please do take a look. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

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Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · Jan 28

Given pfoA+ C. perf damages the epithelum, we explored competitive exclusion using live organoid co-culture. This revealed that pre-culture with pfoA- C. perf protects the preterm gut against pathogenic pfoA+ C. perf.

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Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · Jan 28

We found that generally the CFS from pfoA- C. perf could suppress the pro-inflammatory response in stimulated organoids. There was also no adverse impacts on inflammation from this CFS.

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Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · Jan 28

This is all very exciting for a potential therapy, but not if it negatively impacts the host. To study this we used preterm intestinal organoids and the recently developed co-culture system that accurately recapitulates O2 levels across the epithelium

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Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · Jan 28

... but promoted the growth of naturally occurring infant B. breve and B. longum (though not probiotic derived B. infantis). Because the CFS was harvested after growth on glucose, this is not explained purely by cross-feeding of LNT and other HMO degradation products

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Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · Jan 28

Now we wanted to see what impact cell free supernatant (CFS) from C. perf would have on infant gut microbiome development. Jon Chapman found it inhibited the growth of preterm infant pathobionts...

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Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · Jan 28

Side step into some biochemistry - We found C. perf is able to use the sialic acid from DSLNT, but generally can not use LNT, which it "cross-feeds" to Bifidobacterium. The full digestion of DSLNT by C. perf was possible only when the β 1-3 bond was cleaved first.

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Chris Stewart @stewartlab.bsky.social · Jan 28

We therefore focused on a pfoA- C. perf isolate for further investigation, owing to it being in the hypovirulent linage V, lacking the pfoA toxin gene, its ability to use health-associated DSLNT, and its production of several beneficial SCFAs and metabolites

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