Professor PATRICE CANI received the AstraZeneca Foundation Prize and the medal of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium

Bruxelles Woluwe

Every two years, the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium (ARMB) and the Koninklijke Academie voor Geneeskunde van België (KAGB) award the AstraZeneca Foundation Prize to two researchers in biomedical sciences that have contributed, or could contribute, to the improvement of human health (one French and one Flemish).

This prize is intended for renowned researchers who are among the scientific elite in their field.

Professor PATRICE CANI received the AstraZeneca Foundation Prize and the medal of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium for his discoveries on the intestinal microbiota, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

20 years spent searching on the intestinal microbiota to find solutions to reduce cardiometabolic risks such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, this is the research for which Professor Patrice Cani (UCLouvain, LDRI) was distinguished by the Royal Academies of Medicine of Belgium on 19 May 2022.

Akkermansia muciniphila, a bacterium present in the microbiota, was the first to attract the attention of Prof. Patrice Cani, FNRS-WELBIO researcher and Principal Investigator at the Metabolism and Nutrition Laboratory of UCLouvain. In 10 years of research, he has moved from animals to humans: "What we have discovered," explains the researcher, "is that a daily administration of pasteurized Akkermansia muciniphila for 3 months, at a level of of 10 billion bacteria per day, limits the increase in several factors known to be cardiometabolic risk factors, such as insulin resistance, insulinemia, and cholesterol, but also reduces low-grade inflammation. A food supplement will soon be available.

Among the thousands of as yet unknown bacteria, the team has found another very promising one: Dysosmobacter welbionis. Present in 70% of healthy people, it is less abundant in the intestine of obese and type 2 diabetic subjects. By increasing fat oxidation and energy expenditure, it could help in the treatment of obesity and diabetes. It could also play a role in the treatment of cancer. This could provide further research for the team.

 

Crédit photos: AstraZeneca Foundation

Published on May 25, 2022