Author: sueishaqlab

I'm an assistant professor of animal and veterinary studies at the University of Maine, Orono, studying how animals get their microbes. I am also the Founder and Lead of the Microbes and Social Equity working group.

Upcoming presentations at ISME 19 in Cape Town, South Africa!

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Some of the lab are lucky enough to be able to travel to Cape Town, South Africa this August for the 19th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME)!!! This conference is held in different host cities, and brings together microbiologists from around the world to celebrate our work and foster our scientific community.

Session:  Integrating equity into microbiome science from crops to communities

Convenors
Sue Ishaq, University of Maine, USA
Adolphe Zeze, Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Côte d’Ivoire

Date: 20-Aug-2024, session from 11:00 to 13:00. Location: Meeting Room 2.6 (2.61 – 2.64) of CTICC1 in Cape Town.

About the session: Microorganisms are critical to many aspects of biological life, and the collective microbial community, or microbiome, can be impacted by environmental factors which may be driven by social, economic, medical, or political constraints that restrict available choices and may impact our health. This session explores the way that microbes connect to social disparities, and how microbial ecology can be used to benefit public health and vulnerable populations.

Photo credit Johanna Holman.

Characterizing Gut Bacteria Associated with Sulforaphane Production

Alexis Kirkendall 1, Johanna Holman 1, Marissa Kinney 1, Aakriti Sharma 2, Lilian Nowak 2, Gloria Adjapong 2, Yanyan Li 3, Suzanne Ishaq2

Date:  19-Aug-2024, live session from 16:30 to 17:30. Poster number: PS1.02.050. Section: Understanding microbiome dynamics to improve human health

Affiliations: 1 Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, USA; 2 School of Food and Agriculture, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, USA; 2 Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, USA; 3School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, SUNY Binghamton University, Johnson City, New York, USA.

Abstract: Broccoli sprouts contain glucosinolates which can be converted into sulforaphane, an anti-inflammatory compound. Mammals do not produce the essential digestive enzymes to perform this conversion, fortunately, some gut bacteria do, and this results in high sulforaphane in the colon and systemically. Sulforaphane production has implications in treating inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis. Bacterial samples were collected from 40 all-male SPF C57BL/6 mice. Divided into four groups, mice received a combination, or lack thereof, of 2.5% dextran sodium sulfate in drinking water to induce ulcerative colitis and/or steamed broccoli sprouts at 10% of the diet. Following the trial, bacteria were isolated from jejunum and colon digesta- and mucosal-associated contents. Bacteria were grown on bacto-tryptone yeast broth media in anaerobic conditions. Collected bacteria were analyzed based on morphological data. Following initial culturing bacteria were placed in 96-well plates amongst bacto-tryptone yeast broth in four groups: with glucose, without glucose, with glucoraphanin, and with sinigrin. Plates were incubated anaerobically for 24 hours followed by growth being measured via spectrophotometry, to assess potential as a probiotic. Over four hundred bacteria were assessed, multiple of which showed signs of glucosinolate conversion. Across gram stains, approximately 80% of all analyzed showed to be gram +.

Graphic Designed by Indigo Millisor.

Funding Sources: This work was funded by the NIH, Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, and NSF NRT.

Steamed broccoli sprouts alleviate gut inflammation and retain gut microbiota against DSS-induced dysbiosis.

Johanna M. Holman1, Lola Holcomb2, Louisa Colucci3, Dorien Baudewyns4, Joe Balkan5, Grace Chen6, Peter L. Moses7,8, Gary M. Mawe7, Tao Zhang9, Yanyan Li1*, Suzanne L. Ishaq1*

Date:  19-Aug-2024, live session from 10:00 to 11:00  Poster number: PS1.02.007 Section: Understanding microbiome dynamics to improve human health

Affiliations: 1 School of Food and Agriculture, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, USA; 2 Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, USA; 3 Department of Biology, Husson University, Bangor, Maine, USA; 4 Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, USA; 5 Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA; 6 Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; 7 Departments of Neurological Sciences and of Medicine, Larner College of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA: 8 Finch Therapeutics, Somerville, Massachusetts, USA; 9 School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, SUNY Binghamton University, Johnson City, New York, USA.

Abstract: Inflammatory bowel diseases are devastating conditions of the gastrointestinal tract with limited treatments, and dietary intervention may be effective, affordable, and safe for managing symptoms. Research has identified inactive compounds in broccoli sprouts that may be metabolized by the gut microbiota into key anti-inflammatories. Our research set out to identify biogeographic locations of participating microbiota and correlate that to health outcomes. We fed specific pathogen free C57BL/6 mice either a control diet or a 10% steamed broccoli sprout diet, and gave a three-cycle regimen of 2.5% dextran sulfate sodium  in drinking water over 40 days to simulate ulcerative colitis. We monitored body weight, fecal characteristics and lipocalin, and sequenced bacterial communities from the contents and mucosa of the jejunum, cecum, and colon. Mice fed the broccoli sprout diet while receiving dextran sulfate sodium performed better than mice fed control diet for all disease parameters, including increased weight gain (2-way ANOVA, p < 0.05), lower Disease Activity Index scores (2-way ANOVA, p < 0.001), and higher bacterial richness (linear regression model, p < 0.01). Bacterial communities were assorted by gut location except in the mice receiving the control diet and colitis-inducing treatment (Beta-diversity, ANOVA, p < 0.05). Importantly, our results suggest that broccoli sprouts abrogated the effects of dextran sulfate sodium on the gut microbiota, that colitis erases biogeographical patterns of bacterial communities, and that the cecum is not likely to be a contributor to colonic bacteria of interest, in a mouse model of ulcerative colitis. 

Funding Sources: This work was funded by the NIH, USDA, NSF NRT, and UMaine GSBSE.

Consuming steamed broccoli sprouts as part of their diet protected the gut biogeography of microbes — which bacteria was found in which organ sampled– in the intestines of mice who were experiencing chemically induced colitis. Image by Johanna Holman.

Early life exposure to broccoli sprouts confers stronger protection against enterocolitis development in an immunological mouse model of inflammatory bowel disease. 

Lola Holcomb1, Johanna Holman2, Molly Hurd3, Brigitte Lavoie3, Louisa Colucci4, Gary M. Mawe3, Peter L. Moses3,5, Emma Perry6, Allesandra Stratigakis7, Tao Zhang7, Grace Chen8, Suzanne L. Ishaq1*, Yanyan Li7*

Date:  19-Aug-2024, live session from 16:30 to 17:30 Poster number: PS1.02.002 Section: Understanding microbiome dynamics to improve human health

1 Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 2 School of Food and Agriculture, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 3 Larner College of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 4 Department of Biology, Husson University, Bangor, Maine, 5 Finch Therapeutics, Somerville, Massachusetts, 6 Electron Microscopy Laboratory, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 7 School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, SUNY Binghamton University, Johnson City, New York,  8 Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) are chronic conditions characterized by inflammation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract that burden daily life, result in complications, and disrupt the gut microbiome. Many studies on diet and IBD in mice use an ulcerative colitis model, despite the availability of an immune-modulated Crohn’s Disease model. The objective of this study was to establish IL-10 deficient mice as a model for studying the role of dietary broccoli and broccoli bioactives in reducing inflammation, modifying the immune response, and supporting GI tract microbial systems. Interleukin-10-knockout (IL-10-ko) mice on a C57BL/6 background, beginning at age 4 or 7 weeks, were fed either a control diet or one containing 10% raw broccoli sprouts. Diets began 7 days prior to inoculation with Helicobacter hepaticus, which triggers Crohn’s-like symptoms in these immune-impaired mice, and ran for 2 additional weeks. Broccoli sprouts decreased (p < 0.05), fecal lipocalin (LCN2), a biomarker for intestinal inflammation, and fecal blood, diarrhea, and overall Disease Activity Index. Sprouts increased gut microbiota richness, especially in younger mice (p < 0.004), and recruited different communities in the gut (B-diversity, ANOVA, p < 0.001), especially in the colon (B-diversity, ANOVA, p = 0.03). The control group had greater prevalence and abundance of otherwise commensal bacteria which trigger inflammation in the IL-10-ko mice. Helicobacter was within the top-5 most prevalent core genera for the control group, but was not within the top-5 for the broccoli group. Disease parameters and microbiota changes were more significant in younger mice receiving broccoli. A diet containing 10% raw broccoli sprouts may be protective against negative disease characteristics of Helicobacter-induced enterocolitis in IL-10-ko mice, and younger age is the most significant factor (relative to diet and anatomical location) in driving gut bacterial community richness and similarity. The broccoli diet contributes to prevalence and abundance of bacterial genera that potentially metabolize dietary compounds to anti-inflammatory metabolites in the gut, are bacteriostatic against pathogens, and may ease disease severity.

Funding Sources: This work was funded by the NIH, USDA, NSF NRT, and UMaine GSBSE.

MSE seminar today: “What microbes can tell us about the built environment”

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Events will be hosted January – December, 2024, on the last Friday of every month, 12:00 – 14:00 pm ET. Presented over Zoom.

After each talk, we will continue the discussions in an informal social meeting with MSE. All speakers and members of the audience are welcome to join the social meeting.

Hosted by: Sue Ishaq, MSE, and finacially supported by the University of Maine Institute of Medicine and the UMaine Cultural Affairs/Distinguished Lecture Committee.

Click here to register here for one or all speakers for free!

“What microbes can tell us about the built environment”

Dr. Davida Smyth, PhD

July 26, 2024 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time. This event has passed, watch the recording here.

Dr. Davida Smyth, PhD., is an Associate Professor at Texas A&M University – San Antonio. She received her Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Dublin, Trinity College, Ireland, and completed her postdoctoral training at New York Medical College, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and New York University. She has served as an Associate Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Natural Sciences in Mercy College’s School of Health and Natural Sciences, an Assistant Research Scientist in Richard Novicks lab at NYU Langone Medical Center, an Adjunct Lecturer for the online Masters in Bioinformatics program at NYU Tandon School of Engineering, and an Assistant Professor of Biology at New York City College of Technology (NYCCT). She is an external committee member for Mercy Colleges Adjunct Academy component of their Inclusive Excellence Project and Peer-Led Team Learning Program for Biology, Chemistry, and Psychology students. In 2019, she was invited to the steering committee of the Research Experiences in Microbiomes Network (REMNet) of CUNY and became a Co-PI in 2020. Her research focuses on epidemiology of microbes in wastewater, and she is deeply committed to improving STEM education with integrated social impacts, such as her course on “How the Toilet Changed the World” about the role and impact of sanitation on our society and about the ongoing and future challenges associated with both access to toilets and sustainable toilet design.

This talk will focus on how microbes in our built environment can tell us much about the biological and chemical processes occurring. From their transmission through the air and their accumulation in our wastewater, we can learn much about the health of our communities, at different levels of scale and over time. Using novel sampling techniques and next generation sequencing we’re studying the microbes in our classroom air, those present in the soils around our campus, and in our city’s wastewater to determine the prevalence of pathogens as well as antibiotic resistance.

Her lab website is here; they research microbiology, sustainability, pedagogy, and inclusion.

Logo designed by Alex Guillen

MSE seminar today: “Antimicrobial chemicals, antimicrobial resistance, and the indoor microbiome”

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Events will be hosted January – December, 2024, on the last Friday of every month, 12:00 – 14:00 pm ET. Presented over Zoom.

After each talk, we will continue the discussions in an informal social meeting with MSE. All speakers and members of the audience are welcome to join the social meeting.

Hosted by: Sue Ishaq, MSE, and finacially supported by the University of Maine Institute of Medicine and the UMaine Cultural Affairs/Distinguished Lecture Committee.

Click here to register here for one or all speakers for free!


“Antimicrobial chemicals, antimicrobial resistance, and the indoor microbiome”

Dr. Erica Hartmann, PhD.

Jun 28, 2024 12:00 PM Eastern Time. This event has passes, watch the recording here.

Professional headshot of Erica Hartmann in front of a wall of ivy.

Dr. Erica Hartmann, PhD., Associate Professor at Northwestern University. Dr. Erica Marie Hartmann is an environmental microbiologist interested in the interaction between anthropogenic chemicals and microorganisms, as well as bio-inspired mechanisms for controlling microbial communities.

Her career began at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she worked on mass spectrometry-based methods for detecting microbial enzymes necessary for bioremediation. She then moved to Arizona State University where she was the first graduate of the interdisciplinary Biological Design PhD program. She then moved to France on a Fulbright, studying microbes that degrade carcinogenic pollutants at the Commission for Atomic Energy. She began leading studies on antimicrobial chemicals and microbes found in indoor dust at the Biology and the Built Environment Center at the University of Oregon. She is currently continuing that work, as well as developing novel non-chemical antimicrobials, as an associate professor at Northwestern University. She was recently awarded an NSF CAREER to support her work on antimicrobial textiles.

Her lab website is here.

Logo designed by Alex Guillen

Congratulations to Dr. Tolu Esther Alaba for passing her PhD Defense!

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The Ishaq Lab is ecstatic to announce that Dr. Tolu Esther Alaba has successfully defended her PhD dissertation on the antioxidants and anti-inflammatories in broccoli sprout diets and their relation to health, officially completing her PhD!!! You can check out the recording of her talk here, which was attended by >40 people over Zoom.

The committee was impressed by her breadth of knowledge, ability to think abstractly about future research, plans for research designs and integrating technology into education, and enthusiasm for using food as medicine. Dr. Alaba will enjoy a very-well-earned summer break before considering postdoctoral research options in the fall, and we are thrilled to keep working with her!

Tolu has been researching the benefits of cruciferous vegetables on health, and especially the benefits by antioxidants or anti-inflammatories we get from these plants. Some of these compounds are available directly from the plants, and some of them are produced or made available through the biochemistry of certain bacteria that live in our gut. Depending on the type of vegetable, and the way that it is cooked/prepared, you can end up with different types and quantities of these beneficial compounds.

Cruciferous vegetables or their purified compounds can ameliorate inflammatory symptoms through multiple pathways. Graphic designed by Johanna Holman.
Headshot for Esther Alaba, PhD Candidate in Biomedical Sciences

Tolu Esther Alaba has been a PhD Candidate in the Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering at UMaine. She previously completed her bachelors of technology at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, in Ogbomosho Nigeria in 2011, and her masters of science at the University of Ibadan, in Ibadan, Nigeria in 2015.

She started her PhD at UMaine in the fall of 2019, just a few months before the pandemic, and during her PhD she weathered the pandemic, an advisor leaving, leaving an advisor, navigating university policy and advocating for herself, being a mentor in STEM, being a teaching assistant, raising a family, moving across the country, and learning entirely new research skills. This has been a difficult journey, but Tolu has risen to every challenge, become a competent interdisciplinary researcher and added an entirely new dimension of research to our work.

Her research has focused on antioxidants in fruits and vegetables which can be used to resolve inflammation, oxidative stress, injury, cardiometabolic and chronic diseases. She joined #TeamBroccoli last September, and in less than a year, completed a literature review which was recently published in the journal Current Developments in Nutrition, she has completed metabolomics for mouse studies for two manuscripts in preparation, and completed a nutritional analysis for a human study for a manuscript in development. The Ishaq Lab is proud of her strength in standing up for herself as an employee and a researcher, as well as of the incredible work she’s added to our team.

Publications

  1. Tolu E. Alaba, Johanna M. Holman , Suzanne L. Ishaq, Yanyan Li. 2024. Current knowledge on the preparation and benefits of cruciferous vegetables as relates to in vitro, in vivo, and clinical models of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.  Current Developments in Nutrition 8(5):102160.
  2. In preparation: Early life intervention with broccoli sprouts affects serum and gut metabolites.
  3. In preparation: Healthy eating habits and effects of consuming steamed broccoli sprouts daily for a month.

Presentations

Alaba*, T.E., Ishaq, S.L., Li, Y., Zhang, T. “Broccoli sprouts alleviate ulcerative colitis in mice by increasing dietary and microbial metabolites: differential effects in young and adult, male and female mice. 4th CMI International Microbiome Meeting (CIMM), La Jolla, CA, March 12th – 14th, 2024.

MSE seminar today: “The human microbiome and cancer risk: Opportunities for prospective studies”

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Events will be hosted January – December, 2024, on the last Friday of every month, 12:00 – 14:00 pm ET. Presented over Zoom.

After each talk, we will continue the discussions in an informal social meeting with MSE. All speakers and members of the audience are welcome to join the social meeting.

Hosted by: Sue Ishaq, MSE, and finacially supported by the University of Maine Institute of Medicine and the UMaine Cultural Affairs/Distinguished Lecture Committee.

Click here to register here for one or all speakers for free!

“The human microbiome and cancer risk: Opportunities for prospective studies”

Dr. Emily Vogtmann, PhD, MPH

May 31, 2024 12:00 PM Eastern Time. This event has passed, watch the recording here.

Dr. Emily Vogtmann is an Earl Stadtman Investigator in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology & Genetics in the National Cancer Institute. She received her B.S. in biochemistry and molecular biology and B.A. in Spanish from Michigan State University, M.P.H. in international health epidemiology from the University of Michigan, and Ph.D. in epidemiology in 2013 from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Vogtmann’s research focuses on the association between the human microbiome and cancer risk and the evaluation of methods for collection, storage, and processing of samples and data for study of the human microbiome.

MSE Logo designed by Alex Guillen

Speaking at the first Northern New England Microbiome Symposium at UVM!

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I will be giving a talk at the upcoming Northern New England Microbiome Symposium on my collaborative work on broccoli sprouts, gut microbes, and Inflammatory Bowel Disease: “Place and Time Matter for Gut Microbes Making Anti-Inflammatories from Broccoli Sprouts”.

The Symposium is June 3, 2024, and free to attend at the University of Vermont campus:

NNE Microbiome Symposium

But, this talk is particularly special because this is the FIRST microbiome sysmposium in Northern New England featuring local research, and because UVM is where I did my undergraduate and graduate degrees! I can’t wait to visit campus again, and relive some fond memories:

Picture taken of a woman and two family members in front of purple and white flowers. The woman is wearing a black graduation gown and cap and is holding a diploma in her hand. She is standing in the middle of her two family members and they are all smiling.
A picture of Dr. Sue Ishaq's diploma from the University of Vermont.
Image of a woman and her colleague taking a picture together and smiling. The woman is wearing a black graduation cap with a long yellow tassel and a black gown and is holding a diploma. Her colleague is wearing a sky blue and black gown and a black cap with a yellow tassel. In the background there are tall bushes with purple flowers.
A sheep posing for a photo.
Sue sitting with a lamb in a grassy field.

Tolu Esther Alaba is standing in front of a science conference poster, smiling, and holding her infant.

Tolu Esther Alaba sets a date for her PhD Defense!

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The Ishaq Lab is delighted to announce that Tolu Esther Alaba will soon be defending her PhD dissertation on the antioxidants and anti-inflammatories in broccoli sprout diets and their relation to health. Her dissertation will be presented over Zoom on June 25, 2024, from 2 – 3 pm EDT, which is open to the public. Registration is free but required here.

Tolu has been researching the benefits of cruciferous vegetables on health, and especially the benefits by antioxidants or anti-inflammatories we get from these plants. Some of these compounds are available directly from the plants, and some of them are produced or made available through the biochemistry of certain bacteria that live in our gut. Depending on the type of vegetable, and the way that it is cooked/prepared, you can end up with different types and quantities of these beneficial compounds.

Cruciferous vegetables or their purified compounds can ameliorate inflammatory symptoms through multiple pathways. Graphic designed by Johanna Holman.

Headshot for Esther Alaba, PhD Candidate in Biomedical Sciences

Tolu Esther Alaba is a PhD Candidate in the GSBSE program at UMaine. Her research has focused on antioxidants in fruits and vegetables which can be used to resolve inflammation, oxidative stress, injury, cardiometabolic and chronic diseases. She joined #TeamBroccoli in the fall of 2023, and in less than a year, completed a dissertation’s-worth of research, including performing metabolomics and related data analyses on gut metabolites and broccoli sprouts in mice and humans, and drafting several manuscripts, and publishing literature review (details below) — and all this was on top of moving to California with her family, giving birth to her second child, Bethel, and extricating herself from the punitive environment of her former lab. The Ishaq Lab is proud of her strength in standing up for herself as an employee and a researcher, as well as of the incredible work she’s added to our team.

Publications

  1. Tolu E. Alaba, Johanna M. Holman , Suzanne L. Ishaq, Yanyan Li. 2024. Current knowledge on the preparation and benefits of cruciferous vegetables as relates to in vitro, in vivo, and clinical models of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.  Current Developments in Nutrition 8(5):102160.
  2. In preparation: Early life intervention with broccoli sprouts affects serum and gut metabolites.
  3. In preparation: Healthy eating habits and effects of consuming steamed broccoli sprouts daily for a month.

Presentations

Tolu Esther Alaba is standing in front of a science conference poster, smiling, and holding her infant.

Alaba*, T.E., Ishaq, S.L., Li, Y., Zhang, T. “Broccoli sprouts alleviate ulcerative colitis in mice by increasing dietary and microbial metabolites: differential effects in young and adult, male and female mice. 4th CMI International Microbiome Meeting (CIMM), La Jolla, CA, March 12th – 14th, 2024.

MSE seminar today: “Linking Plant, Animal, and Human Health in Livestock Systems: a Metabolomics Approach”

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Events will be hosted January – December, 2024, on the last Friday of every month, 12:00 – 14:00 pm ET. Presented over Zoom.

After each talk, we will continue the discussions in an informal social meeting with MSE. All speakers and members of the audience are welcome to join the social meeting.

Hosted by: Sue Ishaq, MSE, and finacially supported by the University of Maine Institute of Medicine and the UMaine Cultural Affairs/Distinguished Lecture Committee.

Click here to register here for one or all speakers for free!

“Linking Plant, Animal, and Human Health in Livestock Systems: a Metabolomics Approach.”

Dr. Stephan van Vliet, Phd.

Apr 26, 2024 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time. This event has passed, watch the recording here.

Headshot of Dr. Stephan van Vliet, wearing a blue and while shirt in front of a white wall and a tree.

Dr. Stephan van Vliet is a nutrition scientist with metabolomics expertise in the Center for Human Nutrition Studies at Utah State University. Dr. Stephan van Vliet earned his PhD in Kinesiology as an ESPEN Fellow from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and received training at the Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine and Duke University School of Medicine. Dr. van Vliet’s research is performed at the nexus of agricultural and human health. He routinely collaborates with farmers, ecologists, and agricultural scientists to study critical linkages between sustainable agriculture, the nutrient density of food, and human health. His work has been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Scientific Reports, the Journal of Nutrition, and the Journal of Physiology.

His Faculty profile is here.

MSE Logo designed by Alex Guillen

Tolu and Johanna’s literature review on beneficial phytochemicals in cruciferous vegetables and Inflammatory Bowel Disease was published!

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The Li and Ishaq labs are excited to announce a new literature review on the beneficial compounds in cruciferous vegetables was just published here in Current Developments in Nutrition, led by Tolu Esther Alaba (PhD candidate in GSBSE) and Johanna Holman (soon to be PhD candidate in Microbiology/Nutrition)!!


We’ve been researching the benefits of cruciferous vegetables on health, some of which are available directly from the plants, and some of which require the participation of certain bacteria that live in our gut. Cruciferous vegetables are loaded with fiber, vitamins, minerals, and – what we are most interested in – the plant’s secondary compounds called glucosinolates which can be transformed into antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. Depending on the type of vegetable, and the way that it is cooked/prepared, you can end up with different types and quantities of these beneficial compounds. We are interested in how to target benefits to certain locations in the gut by inducing the gut microbiome to participate in making these compounds available to us (Figure below). The review consolidated the existing literature on cruciferous vegetables in regards to the glucosinolates and reducing inflammation in the gut.

Cruciferous vegetables or their purified compounds can ameliorate inflammatory symptoms through multiple pathways. Graphic designed by Johanna Holman.
Headshot for Esther Alaba, PhD Candidate in Biomedical Sciences

Tolu Esther Alaba is a PhD Candidate in the GSBSE program at UMaine. Her research has focused on antioxidants in fruits and vegetables which can be used to resolve inflammation, oxidative stress, injury, cardiometabolic and chronic diseases. Since joining #TeamBroccoli in the fall of 2023, she’s completed data analyses on gut metabolites and broccoli sprouts in mice and humans, and began drafting several manuscripts, in addition to writing this literature review. Tolu plans to defend her dissertation this summer, and we hope to bring her back to the Ishaq and Li labs as a postdoctoral researcher focusing on dietary habits, cruciferous vegetable intake, and dietary metabolomics!

Johanna Holman is a PhD student in the Nutrition/Microbiology programs. She began working on broccoli sprouts with Drs. Tao Zhang and Yanyan Li over 6 years ago as a research assistant. She joined the Ishaq lab in fall 2020 as a master’s student to investigate the effects of diet on the gut microbiome, and host-microbial interactions, as part of an ongoing collaboration with Tao and Yanyan Li, and graduated with her M.S. in nutrition science in the fall of 2022. Her research combines nutritional biochemistry of broccoli sprouts with effects on gut microbes and gastrointestinal inflammation, and spans biochemistry, microbiology, molecular biology, and incorporates a handful of undergraduate mentees every semester. Johanna also just created a website for Imaginome Designs, her graphic design portfolio!!

A black and white portrait of Johanna Holman

Yanyan Li, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at SUNY Binghamton, and has been researching the nutritional biochemistry of broccoli sprouts for over a decade. Yanyan and Sue, along with Johanna, Tolu, and the rest of Team Broccoli have been collaborating on diet-microbe-health projects for the last 5 years!

Current knowledge on the preparation and benefits of cruciferous vegetables as relates to in vitro, in vivo, and clinical models of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.   

Authors: Tolu E. Alaba1, Johanna M. Holman2 , Suzanne L. Ishaq2 , Yanyan Li2,3 

Affiliations: 1 Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, USA 04469; 2 School of Food and Agriculture, University of Maine, Orono, Maine, USA 04469; 3 School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, SUNY Binghamton University, Johnson City, New York, USA 13790

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic condition with a significant economic and social burden. The disease is complex and challenging to treat because it involves several pathologies, such as inflammation, oxidative stress, dysbiosis, and intestinal damage. The search for an effective treatment has identified cruciferous vegetables and their phytochemicals as potential management options for inflammatory bowel disease, as they contain prebiotics, probiotics, and anti-inflammatory and antioxidant metabolites essential for a healthy gut. This critical narrative style review provides a robust insight into the pharmacological effects and benefits of crucifers and their documented bioactive compounds in in vitro and in vivo models, as well as clinical inflammatory bowel disease. The review highlights the significant impact of crucifer preparation and the presence of glucosinolates, isothiocyanates, flavonoids, and polyphenolic compounds, which are essential for the anti-inflammatory and antioxidative benefits of cruciferous vegetables, as well as their ability to promote the healthy microbial community and maintain the intestinal barrier. This review may serve as a viable nutritional guide for future research on methods and features essential to developing experiments, preventions, and treatments for inflammatory bowel disease. There is limited clinical information and future research may utilize current innovative tools, such as metabolomics, for adequate knowledge and effective translation into clinical therapy.

Acknowlegements

This project was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture through the Maine Agricultural & Forest Experiment Station: Hatch Project Numbers ME022102 and ME022329 (Ishaq) and ME022303 (Li); and the National Institute of Health [Li and Ishaq; NIH/NIDDK 1R15DK133826-01], and the Allen Foundation [Li and Ishaq, #5409406]. Financial sponsors had no role in study design, data interpretation, or report writing.

Upcoming presentations at the UMaine Student Symposium 2024

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The UMaine Student Symposium is an annual event featuring research presentations from undergraduate and graduate students, and is a way to share student research on campus and with the Maine public.

All of the abstracts for the full program, and previous years, are available here.

The event is free to attend, and will take place at the New Balance Field House on the UMaine Orono Campus, Friday April 12, 2024.

  • 8:00 a.m.: Doors open
  • 8:15 a.m.: UMaine Flute Ensemble
  • 9:00 a.m.: Opening Remarks
  • 9:30-11:30 a.m.: Graduate Poster / Oral / Exhibit Presentations
  • 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.: Undergraduate Poster / Oral / Exhibit Presentations
  • 9:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. – Musical Performances at Minsky Recital Hall, Class of 1944 Hall
  • 1:00 -2:00 p.m.: Student Panel
  • 2:00 p.m.: Keynote Speaker, Sreeram “Ram” Dhurjaty, PhD
  • 2:45 p.m.: Free Parking, Jazz Performance
  • 3:15 p.m.: Awards Ceremony and Closing Remarks

Several students from the Ishaq Lab will be presenting their ongoing work:

Early Life Broccoli Sprout Consumption Confers Stronger Protection Against Enterocolitis in an Immunological Mouse Model of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Author(s): Lola Holcomb, Johanna Holman, Sue Ishaq. 

Type: poster presentation

Submission category: Biomedical sciences

Abstract number 1001: Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) are chronic conditions characterized by inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract that heavily burden daily life, result in surgery or other complications, and disrupt the gut microbiome. How IBD influences gut microbial ecology, especially biogeographic patterns of microbial location, and how the gut microbiota can use diet components and microbial metabolites to mediate disease, are still poorly understood. This study aimed to resolve such questions. Many studies on diet and IBD in mice use a chemically induced ulcerative colitis model, despite the availability of an immune-modulated Crohn’s Disease
model. Interleukin-10-knockout (IL-10-KO) mice on a C57BL/6 background, beginning at age 4
or 7 weeks, were fed either a control diet or one containing 10% (w/w) raw broccoli sprouts
which was high in the sprout-sourced anti-inflammatory sulforaphane. Diets began 7 days prior to inoculation with Helicobacter hepaticus, which triggers Crohn’s-like symptoms in these immune-impaired mice, and ran for two additional weeks. Key findings of this study suggest that the broccoli sprout diet increases sulforaphane concentration in plasma; decreases weight stagnation, fecal blood, and diarrhea associated with enterocolitis; and increases microbiota richness in the gut, especially in younger mice. Sprout diets resulted in some anatomically specific bacterial communities in younger mice, and reduced the prevalence and abundance of potentially pathogenic or otherwise-commensal bacteria which trigger inflammation in the IL-10 deficient mouse, for example, Escherichia coli and Helicobacter. Overall, the IL-10-KO mouse model is responsive to a raw broccoli sprout diet and represents an opportunity for more diet-host-microbiome research.

Lola’s poster from the CIMM 2024 meeting.

Steamed Broccoli Sprouts Alleviate Gut Inflammation and Retain Gut Microbiota Against DSS-induced Dysbiosis.

Author(s): Johanna Holman, Lola Holcomb, Sue Ishaq.

Type: oral presentation, 9:45 am

Submission Category: Biomedical Sciences



Abstract number 1002: Inflammatory bowel diseases are devastating conditions of the gastrointestinal tract with limited treatments, and dietary intervention may be effective, affordable, and safe for managing symptoms. Research has identified inactive compounds in broccoli sprouts that may be metabolized by the gut microbiota into key anti-inflammatories. Our research set out to identify biogeographic locations of participating microbiota and correlate that to health outcomes. We fed specific pathogen free C57BL/6 mice either a control diet or a 10% steamed broccoli sprout diet, and gave a three-cycle regimen of 2.5% dextran sulfate sodium in drinking water over 40 days to simulate ulcerative colitis. We monitored body weight, fecal characteristics and lipocalin, and sequenced bacterial communities from the contents and mucosa of the jejunum, cecum, and colon. Mice fed the broccoli sprout diet while receiving dextran sulfate sodium performed better than mice fed control diet for all disease parameters, including increased weight gain (2-way ANOVA, p < 0.05), lower Disease Activity Index scores (2-way ANOVA, p < 0.001), and higher bacterial richness (linear regression model, p < 0.01). Bacterial communities were assorted by gut location except in the mice receiving the control diet and colitis-inducing treatment (Beta-diversity, ANOVA, p < 0.05). Importantly, our results suggest that broccoli sprouts abrogated the effects of dextran sulfate sodium on the gut microbiota, that colitis erases biogeographical patterns of bacterial communities, and that the cecum is not likely to be a contributor to colonic bacteria of interest, in a mouse model of ulcerative colitis.

Johanna’s poster from the ASN 2023 meeting.

Using Steamed Broccoli Sprouts to Better Understand Bacterial Glucosinolate Metabolism

Author(s): Marissa Kinney, Johanna Holman, Alexis Kirkendall, Emelia Tremblay, Mazie Gordon.

Type: poster presentation

Submission Category: Allied Health

Abstract number 418: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) lead to dysfunction of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, resulting in disruption to overall health. These diseases can affect people of all ages and are present on a global scale. Research has demonstrated that diets high in cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, are associated with decreases in GI inflammation. Broccoli contains glucoraphanin, which through metabolism by gut bacteria, can become an anti-inflammatory compound, sulforaphane. Recent research has validated the use of steamed broccoli sprouts in the diet of mice to reduce inflammation and resolve symptoms of IBD. Isolated microbiota samples obtained from various locations in the GI of these mice are being investigated for the presence of glucoraphanin-metabolizing genes from a common gut bacteria, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (B. theta). Similar analyses being conducted on human fecal samples from individuals who consumed steamed broccoli sprouts for 28 days have demonstrated decreases in the presence of B. theta. This result was not anticipated and has strengthened beliefs that B. theta is not the primary species performing glucoraphanin metabolism, thus prompting further analyses of the fecal samples from mice and humans for glucoraphanin-metabolizing genes of other common GI bacteria. Genomes of isolates from the gut of mice which have high quantities of glucoraphanin-metabolizing genes will be sequenced for identification. This information will help to identify potential bacterial candidates for future research on probiotic development.