When
April 21, 2026, 11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Where
Bio Sciences West, Room 208
Presenter Details
Professor, Department of Bioengineering, Department of Biosciences, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Rice Institute for Synthetic Biology, Rice University
Seminar Information
N-lactoyl phenylalanine (Lac-Phe) is a recently discovered hunger suppressing metabolite secreted by white blood and epithelial cells during exercise. Lac-Phe injection reduces food intake, weight gain, fat accumulation, and glucose sensitivity in animal models of diet-induced obesity, making it attractive as a potential pharmacological intervention for obesity and related metabolic disorders. However, Lac-Phe ineffective when delivered orally and rapidly degraded post-exercise or during rest, presenting challenges to its use in the clinic. To address these challenges, we have genetically engineered the human probiotic E. coli Nissle 1917 to secrete high levels of Lac-Phe and demonstrated that our bacteria recapitulate the obesity-suppressing effects of Lac-Phe when administered orally. We have also found that gut bacteria secrete Lac-Phe in the presence of high levels of the substrate L-lactate, suggesting that the microbiome may be a source of Lac-Phe in vivo.
Seminar Host
Ingmar Riedel-Kruse, MCB
Contacts
Whitney DeGroot