{"id":1007,"date":"2018-12-16T18:05:18","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T18:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.minerva.polimi.it\/?page_id=1007"},"modified":"2019-12-17T10:26:25","modified_gmt":"2019-12-17T10:26:25","slug":"minerva-in-a-flash","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.minerva.polimi.it\/?page_id=1007","title":{"rendered":"MINERVA in a Snapshot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>MINERVA: MIcrobiota-Gut-BraiN\nEngineeRed platform to eVAluate intestinal microflora impact on brain\nfunctionality<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What is the\nrelation between the intestinal microflora and the brain in the development of\nneurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer&#8217;s and Parkinson&#8217;s disease? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Afunctional relation between the intestinal microflora (microbiota) and thebrain, referred to as the \u201cmicrobiota-gut-brain axis\u201d, was hypothesized morethan 100 years ago but only recently has been re-evaluated becoming a new,exciting hypothesis in neuroscience. We have the proof that aging, badalimentary habits, poor food quality and stress can affect our intestinalmicrobiota: the impact of this modification on brain functionality has beenobserved but the absence of suitable research tools does not allow verifyingthis research hypothesis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"734\" src=\"https:\/\/www.minerva.polimi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Image-MINERVA-1024x734.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1153\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.minerva.polimi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Image-MINERVA-1024x734.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.minerva.polimi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Image-MINERVA-300x215.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.minerva.polimi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Image-MINERVA-768x550.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.minerva.polimi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Image-MINERVA.jpg 1090w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Our aim is\nto overcome this limitation through a bioengineering approach: we will develop\nthe first microbiota-gut-brain platform relying on three miniaturized\nmicrofluidic compartments, representing in vitro the most important features of\nmicrobiota-brain interaction. Once validated, the platform will be challenged\nin healthy and neurodegenerative scenarios by using human complete microbiota. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MINERVA has\na ground breaking potential: the proof of a causal link between intestinal\nmicrobiota and brain functionality would completely change the actual scenario,\nshifting the investigation of neurodegenerative disorders causes from the brain\nto the body periphery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MINERVA is\na high gain project: if its vision succeeds, neurodegenerative disorders will\nbenefit from new, cost effective, low invasive preventative and therapeutic\nstrategies based on microbiota management by food ingredient and probiotics\nwith an enormous beneficial impact worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MINERVAwill provide a versatile platform that will overcome the strong limitationsarising from the current in vivo models and standard in vitro tools: bychanging cell type or culturing conditions, it could address microbiota impactnot only on neurodegenerative disorders, but also on other severeother-than-nervous pathologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/rcn\/208806_it.html\" target=\"_blank\">M<strong>I<\/strong>NERVA (MIcrobiota-Gut-BraiN EngineeRed platform to eVAluate intestinal microflora impact on brain functionality)<\/a> is a project funded by the European Research Council under the call ERC Consolidator Grant 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MINERVA main goal is the development of an innovative technological platform to investigate the relation between the intestinal microflora and brain functionality in healthy and pathological conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Carmen Giordano, the principal investigator, and MINERVA research team will be hosted by Politecnico di Milano, Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.minerva.polimi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/CORDIS_article_411657-the-gut-brain-connection-how-does-intestinal-health-affect-neurologic-function_en-1.pdf\">Here<\/a> it is possible to read the CORDIS article about the ERC MINERVA project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MINERVA: MIcrobiota-Gut-BraiN EngineeRed platform to eVAluate intestinal microflora impact on brain functionality What is the relation between the intestinal microflora and the brain in the development of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer&#8217;s and Parkinson&#8217;s disease? Afunctional relation between the intestinal microflora (microbiota) and thebrain, referred to as the \u201cmicrobiota-gut-brain axis\u201d, was hypothesized morethan 100 years ago [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1007","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.minerva.polimi.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.minerva.polimi.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.minerva.polimi.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.minerva.polimi.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.minerva.polimi.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1007"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.minerva.polimi.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1397,"href":"https:\/\/www.minerva.polimi.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1007\/revisions\/1397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.minerva.polimi.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}