Genelle Lunken

PhD, RD, BSc

Investigator, BC Children's Hospital
Registered Dietitian, IBD Centre of BC

Canada has amongst the highest rates of immune-mediated diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, in the world. The vast majority of these diseases have no known cure. Therefore, new therapeutic strategies that improve clinical outcomes in these patient groups are urgently needed. Additionally, there are large differences between patients in response to various medical and dietary therapies, which challenges a ‘one-size-fits all’ approach to clinical care.



My research focuses on expanding our knowledge of host-immune-microbe interactions, with a specific focus on identifying host (i.e., diet) and microbial factors involved in different responses to medical and dietary therapies. By better understanding individualized response to treatments, we can move towards developing and using personalized therapeutic programs to improve patient outcomes.

We use various digital health technologies and ‘multi-omics’ techniques (i.e., metagenomics, metabolomics, metaproteomics) to explore the role that dietary intakes and the microbes residing in the gastrointestinal tract play in changing the response to therapy.

Academic Affiliations

  • Assistant Professor, , Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
  • Research Theme: Healthy Starts
  • Research Group(s): Origins of Child Health and Disease

Contact Information

Location

950 West 28th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V5Z 4H4

A mouse model for the study of diet-induced changes in intestinal microbiome composition on renal calcium oxalate crystal formation

Urolithiasis

Hanstock, S. and Ferreira, D. and Adomat, H. and Eltit, F. and Wang, Q. and Othman, D. and Nelson, B. and Chew, B. and Miller, A. and Lunken, G. and Lange, D.

DOI: 10.1007/s00240-024-01672-2

Gut microbiome predictors of advanced therapy response in Crohn's disease: protocol for the OPTIMIST prospective, longitudinal, observational pilot study in Canada

BMJ Open

Massaro, C.A. and Meade, S. and Lemari{\'e}, F.L. and Kaur, G. and Bressler, B. and Rosenfeld, G. and Leung, Y. and Williams, A.-J. and Lunken, G.

DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-094280

Insights Into Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Effects of Dietary Fatty Acid Intake With a Focus on Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Using Preclinical Models

Journal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology

Smyth, M. and Lunken, G. and Jacobson, K.

DOI: 10.1093/jcag/gwad058

Effect of diet on the gut mycobiome and potential implications in inflammatory bowel disease

Gut Microbes

Buttar, J. and Kon, E. and Lee, A. and Kaur, G. and Lunken, G.

DOI: 10.1080/19490976.2024.2399360

Design and reporting of prebiotic and probiotic clinical trials in the context of diet and the gut microbiome

Nature Microbiology

Whelan, K. and Alexander, M. and Gaiani, C. and Lunken, G. and Holmes, A. and Staudacher, H.M. and Theis, S. and Marco, M.L.

DOI: 10.1038/s41564-024-01831-6

Utilizing the gut microbiome as a biomarker of response to dietary interventions in inflammatory bowel disease: moving toward precision nutrition

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Lunken, G.R.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.01.022

Dysregulated Immunity to Clostridioides difficile in IBD Patients Without a History of Recognized Infection

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Cook, L. and Wong, M.Q. and Rees, W.D. and Schick, A. and Lisko, D.J. and Lunken, G.R. and Wang, X. and Peters, H. and Oliveira, L. and Lau, T. and Mah, R. and Bressler, B. and Levings, M.K. and Steiner, T.S.

DOI: 10.1093/ibd/izad238

Highly Sensitive, Flow Cytometry-Based Measurement of Intestinal Permeability in Models of Experimental Colitis

Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Tsai, K. and Ma, C. and Han, X. and Allaire, J. and Healey, G.R. and Crowley, S.M. and Yu, H. and Jacobson, K. and Xia, L. and Priatel, J.J. and Vallance, B.A.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcmgh.2022.10.004

User testing to modify the MyHealthyGut digital health application for inflammatory bowel disease

Digital Health

Erlich, M. and Lindblad, S. and Haskey, N. and Clarkin, D.H. and Dong, T. and Harvie, R. and Lunken, G. and Pirnack, J. and Jacobson, K.

DOI: 10.1177/20552076231203664

Gut microbiome-associated predictors as biomarkers of response to advanced therapies in inflammatory bowel disease: a systematic review

Gut Microbes

Meade, S. and Liu Chen Kiow, J. and Massaro, C. and Kaur, G. and Squirell, E. and Bressler, B. and Lunken, G.

DOI: 10.1080/19490976.2023.2287073

Curated and harmonized gut microbiome 16S rRNA amplicon data from dietary fiber intervention studies in humans

Scientific Data

Rodriguez, C.I. and Keshavarzian, A. and Hamaker, B.R. and Liu, F. and Lunken, G.R. and Rasmussen, H. and Zhou, H. and Tap, J. and Swanson, K.S. and Ukhanova, M. and Leclerc, M. and Gotteland, M. and Navarrete, P. and Kovatcheva-Datchary, P. and Dahl, W.J. and Martiny, J.B.H.

DOI: 10.1038/s41597-023-02254-4

User testing to inform modification of the MyHealthyGut digital health application in inflammatory bowel disease

medRxiv

Erlich, M. and Lindblad, S. and Haskey, N. and Clarkin, D.H. and Dong, T. and Harvie, R. and Lunken, G. and Pirnack, J. and Jacobson, K.

DOI: 10.1101/2023.03.23.23287648

Correction: Genomic insights from Monoglobus pectinilyticus: a pectin-degrading specialist bacterium in the human colon (The ISME Journal, (2019), 13, 6, (1437-1456), 10.1038/s41396-019-0363-6)

ISME Journal

Kim, C.C. and Lunken, G.R. and Kelly, W.J. and Patchett, M.L. and Jordens, Z. and Tannock, G.W. and Sims, I.M. and Bell, T.J. and Hedderley, D. and Henrissat, B. and Rosendale, D.I.

DOI: 10.1038/s41396-023-01419-8

Variability in mRNA SARS-CoV-2 BNT162b2 vaccine immunogenicity is associated with differences in the gut microbiome and habitual dietary fibre intake

Genelle R. Healey and Liam Golding and Alana Schick and Abdelilah Majdoubi and Pascal M. Lavoie and Bruce A. Vallance

DOI: 10.1101/2022.08.24.22279143

08 / 2022

Gut microbiome and dietary fibre intake strongly associate with IgG function and maturation following SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination

Gut

Lunken, G.R. and Golding, L. and Schick, A. and Majdoubi, A. and Lavoie, P.M. and Vallance, B.A.

DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2022-328556

AN INULIN-TYPE FRUCTAN ENRICHED EXCLUSIVE ENTERAL NUTRITION FORMULA SUPPRESSES COLITIS THROUGH GUT MICROBIOME MODULATION AND PROMOTING EXPANSION OF ANTI-INFLAMMATORY T CELL SUBSETS

Genelle R. Healey and Kevin Tsai and Daniel J. Lisko and Laura Cook and Bruce A. Vallance and Kevan Jacobson

DOI: 10.1101/2021.02.02.429403

02 / 2021

Therapeutic advances in gut microbiome modulation in patients with inflammatory bowel disease from pediatrics to adulthood

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Eindor-Abarbanel, A. and Healey, G.R. and Jacobson, K.

DOI: 10.3390/ijms222212506

An inulin-type fructan enriched exclusive enteral nutrition formula modulates the gut microbiome and promotes expansion of anti-inflammatory T cell subsets to suppress colitis

Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Prebiotic Enriched Exclusive Enteral Nutrition Suppresses Colitis via Gut Microbiome Modulation and Expansion of Anti-inflammatory T Cells in a Mouse Model of Colitis

Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Healey, G.R. and Tsai, K. and Schick, A. and Lisko, D.J. and Cook, L. and Vallance, B.A. and Jacobson, K.

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcmgh.2021.06.011

Fiber and Prebiotic Interventions in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease: What Role Does the Gut Microbiome Play?

Nutrients

Genelle R. Healey and Larissa S. Celiberto and Soo Min Lee and Kevan Jacobson

DOI: 10.3390/nu12103204

10 / 2020

Genomic insights from Monoglobus pectinilyticus: a pectin-degrading specialist bacterium in the human colon

ISME

DOI: 10.1038/s41396-019-0363-6

02 / 2019

Habitual dietary fibre intake influences gut microbiota response to an inulin-type fructan prebiotic: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over, human intervention study

British Journal of Nutrition

Genelle Healey and Rinki Murphy and Christine Butts and Louise Brough and Kevin Whelan and Jane Coad

DOI: 10.1017/S0007114517003440

01 / 2018

Inflammatory bowel disease and immunonutrition: novel therapeutic approaches through modulation of diet and the gut microbiome

Immunology

Celiberto, L.S. and Graef, F.A. and Healey, G.R. and Bosman, E.S. and Jacobson, K. and Sly, L.M. and Vallance, B.A.

DOI: 10.1111/imm.12939

Interindividual variability in gut microbiota and host response to dietary interventions

Nutrition Reviews

DOI: 10.1093/nutrit/nux062

Variability in gut microbiota response to an inulin-type fructan prebiotic within an in vitro three-stage continuous colonic model system

Bioactive Carbohydrates and Dietary Fibre

DOI: 10.1016/j.bcdf.2017.07.001

Influence of habitual dietary fibre intake on the responsiveness of the gut microbiota to a prebiotic: Protocol for a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over, single-centre study

BMJ Open

Healey, G. and Brough, L. and Butts, C. and Murphy, R. and Whelan, K. and Coad, J.

DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012504

Validity and reproducibility of a habitual dietary fibre intake short food frequency questionnaire

Nutrients

Healey, G. and Brough, L. and Murphy, R. and Hedderley, D. and Butts, C. and Coad, J.

DOI: 10.3390/nu8090558

The link between breast milk, infant faecal and maternal faecal microbiota.

Proceedings of the Nutrition Society of Australia

The effect of dietary modulation on fungal and viral communities in the gastrointestinal tract

We plan to determine whether various dietary components, including food additives, dietary fibres, and polyphenolics, impact the composition and functional capacity of the virome (viruses) and mycobiome (fungi) in healthy individuals and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. Diet has a profound impact on the gut microbiome (collection of microorganisms in the gut), however, the vast majority of research to date only focuses on the modulating capacity of diet in the context of the gut bacteria. Additional research is therefore needed to elucidate the impact diet has on shaping the viral and fungal communities within the gut. This is particularly important as recent research has established that the virome and mycobiome are likely implicated in the development and management of immune-mediated conditions such as IBD.

Therapeutic efficacy and gut microbiome modulating capacity of a fibre-enriched exclusive enteral nutrition strategy in pediatric Crohn’s disease

In this translational research project we aim to conduct a randomized controlled trial to determine whether enriching exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) with fibre will prevent gut microbiome dysbiosis (imbalance) and enhance disease outcomes compared to a fibre-free EEN formula. Additionally, we will determine whether there is a gut microbiome signature, and/or specific dietary components associated with EEN response and/or sustained remission.

Grants

Weston Family Microbiome Initative – “Effect of supplemented toddler diets on the gut microbiome and its association with neurodevelopmental outcomes” – $300,000 over 2 years – Co-investigator (2022-2024)

Weston Family Microbiome Initative – “Characterizing the gut microbiome in patients during COVID-19 infection” – $125,700 over 2 years – Co-investigator (2020-2022)

Weston Family Microbiome Initative – “Leveraging the gut microbiota in treatment refractory epilepsy” – $150,000 over 2 years – Co-investigator (2019-2021)

Honours & Awards

Michael Smith Health Research BC Trainee Award – 2018-2022

People’s Choice Best Poster Award – IMPACTT Canadian Microbiome Symposium – 2021

Best Presentation Award – Canadian Digestive Disease Week – 2021

Trainee Prize for Abstract Submission – Canadian Digestive Disease Week – 2021

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment PhD Scholarship – New Zealand Government – 2014-2017

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