A gut reaction that’s creating opportunities

Accelerate research project into treatment for inflammatory bowel disease leads to better quality of life for patients, and new avenues for business

Thanks to a Mitacs Accelerate partnership with industry, researchers have discovered how a type of dietary fat can provide relief for this disease, and create business opportunities for the treatment of other conditions.

John Miklavcic was working on his PhD at the university’s Alberta Institute for Human Nutrition when he began an Accelerate internship with Biolipids Inc. The goal was to look into whether gangliosides — special kinds of dietary fat that help prevent infection and regulate the immune system — could be used to treat IBD.

The exact cause of IBD isn’t known,” says John, “but we had a hunch that patients with this condition had fewer gangliosides in their intestinal cells than healthy people. Our tests on tissue samples proved we were right. In fact, we were among the first to discover this in live humans. Next we had to find out why.”

The team predicted patients with IBD might have higher levels of enzymes that naturally break down gangliosides. Testing confirmed IBD patients had significantly more of these enzymes than healthy people.

“That led us to propose that patients might improve if they took supplemental gangliosides,” says John.

Months of testing showed the treatment successfully relieved some of the patients’ symptoms. “They felt better, they had more energy, and they were able to go out and socialize more,” says John. “We also found the integrity of their guts was better after they’d taken the additional gangliosides.”

He says the discovery has implications for the treatment of other diseases related to low levels of gangliosides.

“I’ve been liaising with Biolipids to create a business proposal for larger-scale testing. From there, they could get support from bigger companies for more research, leading to more business opportunities.”

John credits Accelerate for giving the team financial flexibility, aiding its success. “When a grad student comes into a project with Mitacs funding already in place to cover part of his or her salary, that leaves more money to apply to other areas so researchers can do more.”

Mitacs thanks the Government of Canada and Alberta Innovates for their support of the Accelerate research internship in this story. Across Canada, the Accelerate program also receives support from the Government of British Columbia, the Government of New Brunswick, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Government of Nova Scotia, the Government of Ontario, the Government of Prince Edward Island, the Government of Quebec, the Government of Saskatchewan and Research Manitoba.

Do you have a business challenge that could benefit from a research solution? If so, contact Mitacs today to discuss partnership opportunities: BD@mitacs.ca

Mitacs Team

Mitacs’s website content is created by people throughout our organization, united in their passion for innovation and eager to share their perspectives with others in the innovation ecosystem. 

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