METACARDIS

Prof. Karine Clément

Scientific Coordinator of METACARDIS, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm) and Director of the Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition (ICAN) in Paris, France

Research field

Genomics, Obesity, Nutrition

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Who?

Prof. Clément is a scientist and a medical doctor. “I am interested in the biological basis of metabolic diseases such as obesity. I want to know why some patients develop complications and others do not. My ambition is to be able to offer metabolic disease patients a personalised treatment”, says Prof. Clément.

Why?

Prof. Clément: “CMDs such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity are a major cause of death and disease around the world. It is estimated that they cost the European economy more than €192 billion a year. This will increase in the future because the population is ageing. We need to find better ways to treat CMD patients ”.

What?

Our body is colonised by an immense number of microbes (microscopic organisms such as bacteria). These are referred to as human microbiota. METACARDIS aims to study the role of the gut microbiota in cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs). The project will improve our ability to diagnose CMDs and to predict the risk of complications.

How?

METACARDIS is the first systemic attempt to correlate gut microbiota with CMD stages. With the financial support of the European Commission, 14 partners in 6 countries can collaborate for 5 years. The teams will use state-of-the-art technologies to accelerate the development of novel preventive and therapeutic methods for CMDs.

Studying the gut flora in diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease

Preparation of samples of fat tissue from a patient

Image credit: Inserm

Analysis of protein films in the laboratory

Image credit: Inserm

Microscopic observation of fat tissue with infiltrated inflammatory cells from an obese person

Image credit: Inserm

Microscopic image of fat tissue with lipid droplets (green) and cell nuclei (blue)

Image credit: Inserm

Interview at the International Human Microbiome Congress, March 2012

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METACARDIS project website MetaHIT (a related project) Micro-Obes (a related project) International Human Microbiome Standards (a related project) Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm) In Focus article 'Link between intestinal flora and obesity'

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Background image: METACARDIS

Portrait of the project coordinator: METACARDIS

Timeline (in chronological order): METACARDIS