Development of Small Molecule Inhibitors of Gut Bacterial Bile Salt Hydrolases

Primary Researchers:

Sloan Devlin

Principal Investigator: Sloan Devlin, Harvard Medical School

Project Summary:

Obesity is a growing worldwide health epidemic that is placing ever-growing medical and economic burdens on society. The goal of this research is to develop small molecules that modulate gut bacterial metabolism of bile acids, compounds that play crucial roles in human metabolism, as new potential treatments for obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). These first-in-class molecules that target the microbiota will also allow us to better understand how the human microbiome contributes to obesity on a molecular level, knowledge that will pave the way for the development of future microbiome-based therapies.