Dr. Huus’s research investigates how diet interacts with the gut microbiome to influence the immune system, inflammation, and brain-heart health.
Ultra-processed foods account for half the calories consumed by Canadians and are linked to multiple chronic health conditions, including cardiovascular disease and depression. Dr. Huus will investigate how diet-microbiome interactions can drive inflammation, both acutely in the context of vaccine reactions, and in chronic inflammatory disease.
Dr. Huus brings expertise in understanding how diet and the microbiome interact to influence health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led the µHEAT study, which characterized these diet-microbiome interactions in human vaccine responses. Findings suggested that specific intestinal microbes contribute to an increased risk of vaccine side effects, such as fever. Moreover, her research suggested that poor dietary quality, including higher consumption of ultra-processed foods, might promote these fever-associated microbes; however, interventional human trials are needed to establish whether diet can truly affect fever, and associated inflammatory responses, in people.
Now at the University of Ottawa, with funding support from the Brain-Heart Interconnectome’s Academic Recruitment Program, Dr. Huus studies how diet and gut microbiome interactions can affect acute and chronic inflammation and, in turn, susceptibility to chronic diseases of the gut, heart, and brain. Her lab will characterize which gut microbes are associated with inflammation, how ultra-processed foods can affect these microbes, and ultimately, whether an ultra-processed food-free diet can decrease acute and chronic inflammation in humans. Her work will advance our understanding of the effects of industrialized, ultra-processed diets on human health and inflammation, and inform strategies for prevention and interventions to decrease adverse inflammatory reactions in the context of vaccine uptake and chronic disease.
“I think we’re only just beginning to scratch the surface, in terms of all the different ways that the foods we eat can affect gut microbes, and in turn affect our immune responses. There’s so much still to figure out and I’m really excited to get started with my new group,” says Dr. Huus.
Dr. Huus’s work will position the Brain-Heart Interconnectome and the University of Ottawa as leaders in microbiome science while strengthening the evidence on the diet-microbiome-human health axis. Dr. Huus is currently welcoming applications from students interested in thesis supervision. You can read more about her research here and on her website.
About the Brain-Heart Interconnectome
The Brain-Heart Interconnectome (BHI) is a ground-breaking interdisciplinary research program aimed at accelerating prevention, detection, treatment and care of brain-heart disorders, supported by a $109 million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF).