Our Discovery and Translational Research Team: The Foundation of Innovation
Our Discovery and Translational Research team provides the essential scientific foundation that drives innovation in probiotic development, from mechanistic insights to clinical translation, supporting the advancement of microbiome-based health solutions.
Research conducted by the team helps to further understand the strains’ key properties and underlying mechanisms of action, their safety and innocuity, and to identify new strains that confer unique health benefits. This knowledge is leveraged to further explore applications for new strains (e.g., from the human microbiome), strain variants, and products, significantly contributing to our understanding of the role of probiotic bacteria in maintaining health.
In silico and In Vitro Approaches – Functional evaluation
Using various approaches, including our in-house model organism (Caenorhabditis elegans), the discovery and translational team plays an essential role in providing the necessary scientific data and information to pursue clinical studies and investigate the modes of action of probiotics. Thanks to new genome-scale metabolic models, advanced simulation algorithms, and AI-driven tools, we can provide deeper insight into microbial metabolism, enabling us to make probiotic optimization. The integration of these methods with multi-omics data has greatly improved our ability to predict strain behavior and design adapted processes. This can be translated into carefully selected biomarkers and study outcomes that help uncover our strains’ health benefits.
While we strive to minimize the use of in vivo models, certain applications require more complex study systems. To address this responsibly, we have implemented a rigorous animal care and welfare policy. To conduct in vivo experiments, we form partnerships and cooperative relationships with internationally recognized organizations. Research involving animals is only conducted as part of these scientific collaborations at specific institutional facilities after extensive protocol review and approval by informed animal care ethics committee in collaborators’ respective institutions. LHS’ ethics policy to ensure ethical and humane treatment of animals is based on the “3Rs principles” (the Russell-Burch 3R tenet of “Replacement, Reduction and Refinement”). We are actively developing collaborations to explore innovative testing approaches, including ex vivo models—such as gastrointestinal systems using human fecal material—and in vitro human tissue cultures.
Our translational approach ensures that data from pre-clinical studies effectively inform clinical trial design, increasing the likelihood of achieving targeted health outcomes. The discovery and translational research team also plays a key role in interpreting clinical findings to refine strain characterization, optimize processes, and guide future research.
Additionally, the team supports other departments by ensuring accurate documentation of strain properties and by contributing to the communication of health claims and product messaging.
Staying at the Forefront of Innovation
One of the team’s key responsibilities is to keep pace with the latest tools, techniques, and knowledge available. The discovery and translational research team also maintains up-to-date knowledge of the characteristics of strains in our ever-growing portfolio by leveraging the most advanced techniques and technologies available.
Genomic and phenotypic properties of strains are characterized by using new techniques and software, and knowledge is consolidated to strengthen the understanding of the mechanisms of action of single- and multi-strain formulas. The team is also implementing innovative tools and developing new areas of research: “-omics” (genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics), computational data management and analysis, machine learning, and AI-driven prediction models. To this end, we are always seeking and evaluating new collaborations to benefit from cutting-edge technologies. Our findings are published in renowned peer-reviewed scientific journals. We take pride in advancing research on probiotics.
Core areas of expertise
Strains screening and characterization
- Genetic-based characterization
- Metabolic-based profiling
- Physiology and biochemistry
- Safety assessment
Novel microbes and microbiome research
- Evolutive adaptation and new anaerobic microbes
- Genetic engineering
- Impact of probiotics and external factors on the microbiota
Host-microbe interactions
- Metabolomics
- Genomics
- Transcriptomics
- Proteomics
- Gene expression and protein markers quantification
- Bioinformatics