NWO Open Competition Domain Science-M2 funding for joint research on sugar barcodes instructing intestinal immune cells

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded funding in the Open Competition Domain Science-M (ENW-M2) round for the joint project ‘Biosynthetic sugar barcodes to instruct intestinal immune cells’. This innovative project brings together two interdisciplinary research institutes to study molecular processes in the human gut. The project team led by immunologist Jochem Bernink from Amsterdam UMC, and biochemist Christian Büll from the Institute for Molecules and Materials (IMM) of the Radboud University, will study how complex sugar molecules called glycans influence the immune system of the intestine and play a role in inflammatory bowel diseases.

Inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is becoming an increasing medical, economic, and societal burden in the Netherlands and worldwide. With limited effective treatments available, there is an urgent need to better understand the mechanisms that regulate intestinal health. While most research focuses on genetic and environmental factors, little is known about other internal signals that maintain immune balance in the intestine. A promising but understudied factor in intestinal immunity is the role of complex sugar molecules that reside on mucins—large proteins that form the protective mucus layer in the intestine. These sugars create unique molecular pattern, like barcodes, which carry crucial biological information that can be read by the immune system. However, how these sugar barcodes function and influence the immune responses remains largely unknown.

Mucin sugar barcodes

The project aims to explore how mucin sugar barcodes interact with immune cells in the gut, particularly innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) that are highly important for a balanced intestinal immune system. How the mucin sugar barcodes help maintaining a healthy immune system and how changes in the sugar pattern may lead to IBD will be addressed. The research team will apply innovative techniques to create different mucin sugar barcodes in the lab to see how immune cells react to them. They will also look at what factors control these sugar pattern and test whether adding ‘healthy’ barcodes to inflamed bowel tissue can reduce inflammation. The fundamental knowledge generated in this joint project can open new avenues for IBD treatment, offering innovative strategies to restore intestinal health and prevent disease progression. “This grant enables us to study a fundamentally new concept of how complex sugar molecules are recognized by the immune system in the human gut ”, Büll says.

About NWO Open Competition Science-M Domain

NWO Open Competition Domain Science-M (ENW-M) grants are intended for curiosity-driven scientific research of high quality. The grant offers researchers the opportunity to develop original, innovative, high-risk ideas and realize scientific innovations that can form the basis for the research themes of the future.