Call for partners | GutGuard: Strengthening the immune response of vulnerable populations against pathogens using food components
Strengthening immune resilience in vulnerable groups, especially infants and elderly, is a growing priority. With the COVID pandemic just behind us and an increasingly aging population, pandemic preparedness and healthy longevity are now key healthcare challenges. Nutrition is a powerful yet underused tool to support immune function across the lifespan, yet promising ingredients lack robust, agespecific validation in humanrelevant models. In this project, we will develop a nutritional approach to strengthen resilience of the immune system in vulnerable populations.
Partner up for impact
We are looking for:
We are looking for partners interested in food compounds contributing to resilience against infections and/or healthy longevity. Any company can indicate interest, as long as you are dedicated to the topic and in co-creating the project outline. We aim for a pre-competitive consortium, so no competing companies will be included. Costs of the project depends highly on the outline and amount of partners.
About the project
We will investigate the potency of functional ingredients such as proteins, pre-pro and postbiotics that can modulate immune function directly and via the microbiota in both in vitro models and a clinical study.
Together with all partners, we will define age‑specific, human‑relevant in vitro models that capture key immune and microbiota responses in infants and/or older adults. These models will be used to characterize and rank candidate ingredients and ingredient combinations on their mode‑of‑action and potency, using biomarker panels that will also be measured in the clinical study. This allows partners to pre‑screen and optimize their concepts in a controlled setting before moving into costly clinical trials.
In parallel, we will conduct a proof‑of‑concept clinical study in a vulnerable group, for example using a vaccination or infection‑related challenge to assess resilience. By applying mainly non‑or minimally invasive sampling, we will generate rich immune and microbiota biomarkers that are directly comparable to the in vitro readouts. This integrated approach will make it possible to link mechanistic effects to real‑world outcomes and to quantify the “immune resilience potential” of nutritional ingredients.
All data will be brought together in a practical decision framework, complemented by standardized protocols and biomarker panels that partners can directly implement in their own R&D. The project is set up as a true co‑creation: we will jointly define the most relevant models, readouts and target populations, ensuring that the programme is tailor‑made to support each partner’s innovation and product roadmap.
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For more information about the project or to collaborate, please contact our expert.
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