Computing the Gut

BLACKSBURG, VA: May 1, 2016 – C. difficile is a spore-forming anaerobic bacterium associated with infections following the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics. The resultant disease is characterized by exuberant intestinal inflammation, leading to nosocomial diarrhea, colitis, and even death. However, current treatments of C. difficile are largely anti-microbial based leading to high rates of reoccurrence and destruction of the indigenous microbiome.

Enter the use of computational modeling to understand massively- and dynamically-interacting complex systems at the gut mucosa level during C. difficile infection (CDI).

“Computational modeling efforts predict the value of antibiotic-free strategies that indirectly combat C. difficile associated diseases, such as Toxin B neutralizing antibodies or immune modulators, can be more effective than traditional antimicrobial regimens while promoting microbiome preservation and antibiotic stewardship,” says BioTherapeutics President and CEO Josep Bassaganya-Riera. “Host-targeted therapeutics that modulate immune responses in combination with Toxin B neutralization is promising avenues to increase strain coverage and microbiome preservation while decreasing recurrence of infection, and disease severity.”

In March of 2016, the C. difficile model was highlighted as Model of the Month on the BioModels Database, a repository for computational models. Dr. Bassaganya-Riera and his team have contributed to this repository with seven large-scale models of information processing representations of mucosal immune responses over the past four years. Additionally, the model was featured in the spring edition of the Stanford Biomedical Computation Review in an article entitled “Computing the Gut.”