A high-fat diet disrupts the biology of the gut’s inner lining and its microbial communities — and promotes the production of a metabolite that may contribute to heart disease, according to a study published Aug. 13 in the journal Science.

A new method that keeps microbes and gut cells together will be useful for studies of complex host-microbe interactions and for analysis of clinical specimens.

Vanderbilt investigators demonstrated that intestinal cells promote beneficial microbe behavior — the findings support developing microbiota-based therapies for intestinal health.

Matthew Tyska and colleagues have found that an adhesion protein plays a key role in building the intestinal brush border that is essential for absorbing nutrients.

A protein called IRTKS helps build the microvilli that form the border of cells in the intestines, explaining why the protein is a frequent target of gut pathogens.

A protein involved in binding cells together helps maintain the integrity of the intestinal mucosa and plays a protective role in ulcerative colitis.

Vanderbilt investigators have developed an algorithm to classify cell types from experimental data, making it possible to understand how organs develop.