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Celiac Disease Study Reveals Fiber Benefits Depend on Gut Microbiome

Published

2 months ago

March 31, 2026

The autoimmune disorder celiac disease results in mucosal inflammation and injury of the small intestine, driven by dietary gluten, resulting in a wide range of varied symptoms. Although most patients’ symptoms improve on a gluten-free diet, the restriction can lead to nutrient deficiencies including fiber. Because of that, many people with celiac disease are advised to eat more fiber, either through diet or supplements.

Now, new research suggests that the benefits of that fiber may depend on the composition of the microbiome. Although duodenal microbiota has been known to be altered in celiac disease, how the microbial fiber metabolism is affected has remained unknown.

The new study found that people with celiac disease had a significantly reduced capacity to metabolize dietary fiber in the small intestine due to the lack of Prevotellaceae bacteria. Because the finding was observed in both newly diagnosed people and in those who have been managing celiac disease for years with a gluten-free diet, this result was determined to be independent of treatment with the gluten free diet.

This work is published in the article, “Small intestinal microbial fiber metabolism dysfunction in celiac disease,” published in Nature Communications.

“Originally, we thought that the problem was that people aren’t getting enough fiber,” says Mark Wulczynski, PhD, postdoctoral fellow with McMaster’s Farncombe Nutrition Initiative. “Then we found out that people might not have the right bacteria to use the fiber that they’re already eating. Adding more fiber won’t be the solution unless you fix the underlying problems with using it.”

Celiac disease is estimated to impact approximately one percent of the population, with the only current treatment being a strict gluten-free diet. However, the new research suggests that removing gluten alone doesn’t fully restore the gut’s microbiome functional capacity. Future therapies may need to combine dietary strategies with microbiome‑directed approaches, such as microbial restoration or targeted probiotics.

“While a gluten-free diet remains essential for celiac disease, our findings suggest future therapies may also need to support the gut microbiome,” says Elena Verdú, MD, PhD, professor with McMaster’s department of medicine and director of the Farncombe Family Digestive Disease Health Research Institute. “We found reduced fiber-processing activity in the upper gut, the area damaged in celiac disease, which is surprising because this part of the gut has not traditionally been seen as a major site of fiber metabolism. This opens the door to combining dietary strategies like added fiber with probiotics that can metabolize it.”

Using preclinical models, the researchers investigated which fiber types are helpful for healing the gut. They found inulin—a fiber found in everyday foods like bananas, chicory root, garlic and onions—accelerated healing of gluten-induced intestinal injury by feeding the small intestinal microbiome.

More specifically, “colonization of germ-free mice with Prevotella increased small intestinal short chain fatty acids. In gluten-sensitized mice expressing the celiac risk gene, HLA-DQ8, an inulin-supplemented diet facilitated microbial saccharolytic function and SCFA production to accelerate mucosal healing in the small intestine during the GFD.”

To verify this in patients, researchers collected small intestinal fluid from three groups: people newly diagnosed with celiac disease, people who had followed a gluten-free diet for more than two years, and healthy controls. They analyzed the microbiome to determine which bacteria were present and whether they carried the genes needed to break down different types of fiber. They also compared these findings with participants estimated dietary fiber intake and with measurements of plant DNA in stool, providing an objective marker of fiber sources in the diet.

Celiac patients, whether newly diagnosed or treated with a gluten-free diet, showed a distinct combination of low fiber intake and a lack of bacteria known to break down fiber in the small intestine. This suggests that supporting gut health in celiac disease may require both the right fiber and the right bacteria in the small intestine.

The post Celiac Disease Study Reveals Fiber Benefits Depend on Gut Microbiome appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

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Laser‑Driven Phase Contrast Enhances Cryo‑EM Resolution of Small Proteins

Published

5 hours ago

June 12, 2026

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You know when you are at the eye doctor getting an updated prescription, and suddenly the world snaps into sharper focus? Physicists at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, have now done something similar for electron microscopy. By introducing phase contrast into a cryo‑electron microscope, they have delivered dramatically sharper images of some of biology’s smallest and most elusive proteins.

The advance comes from a new laser phase plate (LPP), described in the paper “Laser phase plate improves structure determination of small proteins by cryo‑EM,” which was published recently in Science. Led by physicist Holger Mueller, PhD, of UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the team demonstrated that a laser‑driven phase plate can overcome one of cryo‑EM’s most persistent limitations: poor contrast for small proteins.

Cryo-EM images of two proteins, apoferritin and hemoglobin, taken without and with a laser phase plate. The images are analyzed in a computer to produce detailed 3D structures of the proteins. [Holger Müller, Jessie Zhang/UC Berkeley]

Cryo‑EM has transformed structural biology over the past decade, earning a Nobel Prize in 2017 for enabling high‑resolution structures without crystallization. But despite its impact, the technique still struggles with proteins below ~70 kilodaltons—a size range that includes about 90% of the human proteome. “Because of signal-to-noise limitations, the majority of human and animal proteins are too small to be analyzed by these methods [cryo-EM and cryoelectron tomography]. The increase in signal-to-noise ratio provided by this laser phase plate is expected to overcome these important limitations.”

The new LPP begins to address that problem. The LPP uses an intense, continuous‑wave laser to shift the phase of the electron beam itself. This produces true phase contrast without dimming or destabilizing the beam. Mueller described the laser focus as “75 kilowatts focused to a few microns… That’s more powerful than what you use for welding. It has more power than a military laser. It builds up the brightest continuous laser focus ever.”

Installed in a custom Thermo Fisher Titan Krios, the LPP immediately improved the clarity and resolvability of small proteins, including hemoglobin, which sits at the lower limit of what today’s cryo‑EM instruments can handle. As the authors wrote in the abstract: “Here, we show that the laser phase plate (LPP)… enhances the resolution in single-particle reconstruction of small proteins by improving specimen-motion correction, recovery of information from the early frames, as well as particle visualization, 3D classification, and alignment.”

phase plate cover Cryo-EM — A laser (purple) is powerfully amplified by highly polished mirrors and focused on the electron beam (blue) to shift its phase and increase the cryo-EM microscope’s contrast, allowing biologists to image smaller proteins and the crowded structures inside cells. [Sayo Studio]

These improvements were achieved using standard defocus ranges and reconstruction workflows. “For the most challenging cases—small particles, bad specimens—the laser produces a very considerable advantage,” Mueller said.

The impact extends beyond single‑particle analysis. Cryo‑electron tomography (cryo‑ET), which assembles multiple angular views of a molecule or protein into a three-dimensional image, stands to benefit even more. “With cryo-ET, we’re looking at small, very complicated cellular material that’s incredibly crowded inside the cell,” said Bridget Carragher, PhD, founding technical director of imaging at Biohub. “It’s like a forest of trees, and you’re trying to find one leaf on one tree in there. Cryo-ET needs a dramatic step forward in contrast, so we can start to see what’s going on inside the cell. That’s what the laser phase plate promises to give us.”

Biohub is developing a dual‑laser version of the system, designed to reduce component wear and minimize aberrations. Meanwhile, Mueller’s team is pushing toward imaging proteins as small as 17 kilodaltons, a threshold that would open access to vast regions of the human proteome previously invisible to cryo‑EM.

“This technology is a step function change for biology,” said Stephani Otte, PhD, Biohub’s vice president of imaging science. “What was once invisible will become visible—and that changes everything about how we understand disease.”

“The bottom line is, if you have a large protein and a really good sample—a fresh one or one frozen without bubbles, for example—you may not need the phase plate to get a single, high-quality image. But for a small protein and a bad sample, laser-on is best,” Mueller said. “This could fill an enormous gap in our knowledge of protein structures that can’t be crystallized or are too small for today’s cryo-EM. And it will be revolutionary for cryo-ET.”

The post Laser‑Driven Phase Contrast Enhances Cryo‑EM Resolution of Small Proteins appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.

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STAT+: Updated: Tracking RFK Jr.’s promises to remake health in America

Updated June 11, 2026

WASHINGTON — A pledge to “Make America Healthy Again” earned Robert F. Kennedy Jr. his job atop U.S. health agencies a year and some change ago. He’s now had the opportunity to turn his words into action, with mixed results.

“All one needs” to prove the health secretary’s attentiveness is to “review my unprecedented list of accomplishments on a wide range of issues, all of which I drove,” Kennedy posted on X on Wednesday in response to a journalist.

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

Published

6 hours ago

June 12, 2026

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Updated June 11, 2026

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

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An obesity drug deep-dive, and peptides move mainstream

Published

10 hours ago

June 11, 2026

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Can any of the new obesity medications in development stand out from the pack? Which company just broke records with its IPO? And will the Food and Drug Administration allow greater access to experimental peptides?

We discuss all that and more on this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast.

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