Monica Mechoud
Research Officer – Fermented foods and gut healthResearch Interests
My research interests are focus on fermented foods, gut health, probiotics and bioactive metabolites. I have been involved in projects studying the immunomodulatory responses induced by probiotic bacteria, the use of bacteriocins with relevant antimicrobial properties to confer host yeast advantageous properties for their use in food industry, as well as in projects developing fermented foods to improve gut health.
Current Projects
Currently, I am involved in an industry-funded project to investigate the effects of food ingredients on gut barrier heath and gut microbiome. The project focuses on evaluating the impact of different ingredients on the gut by using cell culture monolayers to analyse markers of healthy gut. In addition, modifications on gut microbiome is analysed by performing faecal fermentations on ex vivo models of the human colon and downstream metagenomics and metabolomics analysis.
Education
- BSc in Biochemistry, University of Tucuman, Argentina.
- PhD in Biological Sciences, University of Tucuman, Argentina.