WCM-Q coordinated e-book ‘Fecal Microbiota Transplants’ surpasses 100,000 views in a month

Doha, Qatar: An e book coordinated by a WCM Q researcher which compiles the latest research into the use of fecal transplants to restore healthy gut m...

Doha, Qatar: An e-book coordinated by a WCM-Q researcher which compiles the latest research into the use of fecal transplants to restore healthy gut microbiota has proven so successful it is to be relaunched in an expanded form next year.

The e-book, titled, ‘Fecal Microbiota Transplants: challenges in translating microbiome research to clinical applications,’ has garnered more than 100,000 views in only one month since its publication in Frontiers in Microbiology, one of the most cited open access microbiology research journals. Following that success, the journal has invited the editorial team to launch a second volume of the e-book to capitalise on the upswell of interest in the topic.

The first volume of the e-book, of which WCM-Q assistant professor of biology Dr. Ghizlane Bendriss is the research topic coordinator, featured 26 research articles examining the challenges preventing fecal microbiota transplants (FMT) from becoming adopted into mainstream clinical practice.

The procedure, which involves transplanting a healthy stool sample from a donor into the gastrointestinal tube of a patient with an unbalanced gut microbiome showing a loss of diversity, has been found to be effective at re-establishing a diverse gut flora in the recipient, but widespread adoption remains elusive.

While the procedure is most commonly used to treat recurrent Clostridium difficile infections, research has also demonstrated the potential efficacy of fecal transplantation for a wide range of illnesses, including gastrointestinal conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease; metabolic conditions like type 2 diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance; and even neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, and multiple sclerosis.