Awarded in 2024
Home Department: Biology
Faculty Advisors: Jonathan Long (Pathology), Christopher Barnes (Biology), and Michael Fischbach (Bioengineering)

Research Title: Uncovering Microbial Biosynthesis of N-acetyltaurine

The physiological role of N-acetyltaurine, a taurine metabolite, has remained largely unknown. The Long lab recently identified a mammalian enzyme responsible for N-acetyltaurine hydrolysis in vivo and demonstrated that elevated N-acetyltaurine levels are associated with reduced food intake and body weight in mice. In this proposal, Sipei will use a multidisciplinary approach that integrates biochemical fractionation, structural biology, and in vivo metabolic phenotyping to uncover microbial biosynthesis of N-acetyltaurine. When successful, it will be the first time that N-acetyltaurine biosynthesis is sufficiently addressed. This proposal will demonstrate how N-acetyltaurine, a physiologically important metabolite produced by the gut microbiome, impacts host metabolism.