On the Right Tract: Hall Studies the Gut Microbiome, Gastrointestinal Diseases

You could say that a gut feeling guided Brantley Hall’s career path.

After earning his Ph.D. in genetics, bioinformatics and computational biology from Virginia Tech in 2016, Hall began studying something that’s part of every person on the planet: the gut microbiome. Trillions of microorganisms form communities in the gastrointestinal tract that are vital to human health, but much is still unknown about their intricacies.

Now an assistant professor of cell biology and molecular genetics with a joint appointment in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS), Hall works to demystify the process of digestion.

“I’m extremely happy to have chosen this field,” said Hall, who is a core faculty member in both the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and University of Maryland Center of Excellence in Microbiome Sciences.

“It’s rewarding because so many people can relate to and engage with my research. Even your choice of lunch has a huge impact on your gut microbiome.”

Hall’s lab studies the human gut microbiome and its links to medical ailments such as inflammatory bowel disease. His team developed a wearable device that measures gas produced by gut microbes—a tool that, until now, never existed. By taking these measurements in real time, Hall hopes to shed light on a range of gastrointestinal symptoms that can hamper a person’s quality of life.

Gut microbiome research has a wide range of applications in medicine. A recent study led by Hall identified the gut microbial enzyme responsible for making urine yellow.

“This enzyme discovery finally unravels the mystery behind urine’s yellow color,” Hall said. “It’s remarkable that an everyday biological phenomenon went unexplained for so long, and our team is excited to be able to explain it.”

Hall and his collaborators believe this enzyme, called bilirubin reductase, could be linked to jaundice—a condition that leads to yellowing of the skin and eyes—and plan to do a clinical trial in infants to test their hypothesis.

The gut microbiome also shares links with allergies, diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, Parkinson’s disease and many more conditions. Despite its importance to human health, gut microbiome research is still in its infancy. It didn’t take off until the early 2000s, with the rise of genomic sequencing and oxygen-free chambers that allowed microbes to be grown in a lab.

“Scientists have known about the importance of the gut microbiome for a long time, but there was just no one way to grow or measure the microbes,” Hall said. “We knew stuff was happening in people’s guts and that microbes were responsible, but beyond that, there wasn’t much we could do.”

While Hall’s lab grows and studies microbes in isolation, his team aims to tackle a bigger challenge: figuring out how to study the activity of microbial communities in a live human body.

“We need to measure what microbes are doing in real time—that’s the big gap in the field,” Hall said. “What we need are new tools that can measure gut microbes.”

Looking back at the last seven years, Hall is glad he followed his gut and pursued this field of research. He said gut microbiome research holds enormous potential for improving people’s health and well-being—and researchers are just getting started.

“I love it,” Hall said. “It’s a great field, and I feel like we’re working toward something that is going to make a difference.”

—This story was originally published by the University of Maryland Department of Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics