A microfluidics-based in vitro model of the gastrointestinal human-microbe interface

We have developed a microfluidics-based in vitro model of the human gut allowing co-culture of human and microbial cells and subsequent multi-omic assessment of the effect of the co-culture on the host transcriptome. We compare the transcriptional changes induced in the human epithelial cell line, Caco-2 after co-culture with Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG or a consortium of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Bacteroides caccae. Caco-2 cells were monocultured, co-cultured with LGG and a consortium of LGG & B.caccae and the RNA was analyzed for evaluating the transcriptional changes induced in Caco-2 cells following HuMiX-based co-culture. Both for mRNA and miRNA expression profiling, 9 microarray samples were analyzed, covering 3 biological replicates for 3 conditions (control, co-culture with the commensal Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG), and co-culture with the obligate anaerobe Bacteroides caccae and LGG).