Research Library
Reviews & case studies.
In-depth, cited reviews of the studies that map metals to the microbiome and to disease.
Childhood Blood Metals and the Gut Microbiome: Evidence from the GESTE Cohort
GESTE cohort links childhood blood metals (Mn, Se, Cd, Hg, Pb) to gut microbiome composition in 6-7 year olds; manganese and selenium tied to bacterial phyla.
Read the review →A Multi-Omics + MR Enterography Model for Predicting Bowel Damage in Crohn's Disease
Two-center study fusing gut microbiome, fecal and serum metabolomics, and MR enterography into a model predicting cumulative Crohn's bowel damage (AUC 0.857).
Read the review →Gut Microbiome and Childhood Stunting in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Systematic review of 14 studies links childhood stunting in LMICs to inflammatory gut pathobionts and depleted butyrate producers, driving impaired linear growth.
Read the review →HERFD-XAS: High-Resolution X-ray Speciation of Biological Metals
HERFD-XAS sharpens X-ray absorption spectra by rejecting core-hole broadening, resolving mercury, selenium, and arsenic speciation in dilute biological samples for metallomics.
Read the review →Iron Fortification, the Infant Gut Microbiome, and Diarrhea Risk
Iron fortification shifts the infant gut microbiome toward enterobacteria and pathogenic E. coli, cutting protective bifidobacteria and raising diarrhea risk.
Read the review →Iron Supplements and the Gut Microbiome in Reproductive-Age Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial
A 21-day randomized placebo-controlled trial found ferrous fumarate did not significantly alter fecal microbiome composition in Australian reproductive-age women.
Read the review →Iron- and Zinc-Biofortified Foods and the Gut Microbiota
Systematic review of iron/zinc-biofortified bean and wheat diets in the Gallus gallus model: staples raised SCFA-producing Lactobacillus and cut enteric pathogens.
Read the review →Lactobacillus plantarum 299v and Oral Iron Therapy Tolerance
A randomized trial shows the probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum 299v reduces oral iron side effects and improves iron status in iron-deficiency anemia patients.
Read the review →Lactoferrin vs. Ferrous Sulfate Through a Metallomics Lens
Meta-analyses show oral lactoferrin can match or outperform ferrous sulfate for iron repletion, lowering IL-6 and hepcidin with fewer gut side effects.
Read the review →Intestinal Biomarkers and the Non-Motor Phenotype of Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson's patients with constipation show higher fecal calprotectin, reduced SCFAs, lower gut diversity, and greater IBD genetic risk, linking gut inflammation to non-motor severity.
Read the review →Pediatric Gut Microbiome Composition in Health: What a Systematic Review Reveals
A systematic review of 42 studies finds geography, diet, and 16S sequencing method, not age, shape healthy children's Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes gut profiles.
Read the review →Perinatal Tobacco Exposure Reshapes the Child Gut Microbiota
A Spanish birth-cohort study found prenatal tobacco smoke, a source of cadmium and lead, lowers gut Akkermansia and raises Dorea in children by age 7.
Read the review →Prenatal Acetaminophen, the Infant Gut Microbiome, and Childhood Cognition
GESTE cohort links prenatal acetaminophen and caffeine to childhood gut microbiome shifts and cognition; Proteobacteria abundance modified WISC-IV scores.
Read the review →Prenatal Metal Exposure, the Gut Microbiome, and Childhood Intestinal Inflammation
A 2024 PROGRESS cohort study links prenatal copper and cesium exposure, interacting with specific gut microbes, to elevated fecal calprotectin in children.
Read the review →Arsenic Exposure Reshapes the Gut Microbiome of Bangladeshi Children, Enriching Resistance-Carrying E. coli
Arsenic-exposed Bangladeshi children carry more gut Proteobacteria and E. coli bearing arsenic-resistance (ars) and antibiotic-resistance-like genes, a metal-microbiome case study.
Read the review →Copper in Infectious Disease: Both Sides of the Penny
How the immune system weaponizes copper against pathogens: macrophage copper bursts, phagosomal intoxication, fungal copper detox, and copper nutritional immunity.
Read the review →Gallium as an Iron Mimic: Disrupting Pseudomonas Iron Metabolism in Cystic Fibrosis
Gallium substitutes for iron to sabotage Pseudomonas aeruginosa iron metabolism. A Phase 1 CF trial (Goss et al., Sci Transl Med 2018) found IV gallium improved lung function.
Read the review →The Human Microbiome Across Body Sites: Gut, Skin, Oral, Vaginal and Lung
How the human microbiome differs across the gut, skin, oral, vaginal and lung niches, how it is acquired and disrupted, and why heavy-metal exposure matters.
Read the review →Heavy Metals and the Gut Microbiota: A Systematic Review
Systematic review of 12 human studies links arsenic, lead, mercury, and cadmium exposure to gut microbiota dysbiosis, leaky gut, and disease, with dietary mitigation.
Read the review →Iron Chelation Therapy in Transfusion-Dependent Thalassemia
Clinical review of deferoxamine, deferiprone, and deferasirox for transfusion iron overload in thalassemia, covering cardiac and hepatic iron outcomes measured by MRI T2*.
Read the review →Iron Fortification and the Kenyan Infant Gut Microbiome
A landmark RCT in Kenyan infants found iron-fortified porridge shifts the gut microbiome toward pathogenic E. coli and enterobacteria and raises fecal calprotectin.
Read the review →Metal Availability and Immune Function During Infection
How zinc, iron, manganese, and copper availability shapes neutrophil and macrophage function during infection through nutritional immunity, calprotectin, and phagosomal metal handling.
Read the review →Nutritional Immunity and Trace Metals in Infection
How the host uses iron, zinc, manganese and copper handling as nutritional immunity to starve or poison pathogens, plus metal-based therapeutic strategies.
Read the review →Prebiotics Blunt the Gut Cost of Iron-Fortified Cereal in Kenyan Infants
In a Kenyan infant RCT, adding prebiotic GOS/FOS to iron-fortified cereal raised iron absorption 60% and reduced gut inflammation, pathogens, and dysbiosis.
Read the review →Prenatal Lead Exposure and the Childhood Gut Microbiome
Prenatal lead exposure is negatively linked to the childhood gut microbiome: metagenomics from a Mexico City cohort ties maternal Pb to fewer beneficial bacteria.
Read the review →Prenatal Metal Exposure, the Gut Microbiome, and Childhood Depression
A Mexico City birth-cohort study links a prenatal zinc-cobalt profile plus specific gut bacteria to 15.4% higher childhood depression scores at ages 9-11.
Read the review →Spatial Metallomics in Colorectal Cancer: Copper-Immune and Iron-EMT Pathways
Spatial metallomics pairs LA-ICP-TOF-MS with Visium transcriptomics in colorectal cancer, mapping copper to immune genes and iron to EMT at the tumor front.
Read the review →Proteome-Scale Mapping of Iron-Binding Proteins in Bread Wheat
A proteome-wide scan of bread wheat mapped ~600 iron-binding proteins with Fe(II)/Fe(III) sites coordinated by His, Glu, Asp and Cys, aiding metallomics.
Read the review →Nitric Oxide Sensing by the [4Fe-4S] Regulator ArnR
ArnR uses a [4Fe-4S] cluster to sense nitric oxide: NO nitrosylates the cluster, abolishing DNA binding and derepressing nitrate-respiration and hmp genes.
Read the review →Maternal Metallomic Profiles in Pregnancy with Obesity: A Secondary Analysis of UPBEAT
UPBEAT analysis profiled 18 serum metals in 755 pregnant women with obesity: elevated manganese linked to antepartum haemorrhage, phosphorus to NICU care.
Read the review →The Iron Metalloproteome of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Under Oxic and Anoxic Conditions
Native metalloproteomics maps how Pseudomonas aeruginosa partitions iron across four protein complexes, with denitrification raising iron demand in anoxia.
Read the review →Iron-Sulfur Clusters and Oxygen in Human Disease
How iron-sulfur (Fe-S) cluster biogenesis and oxygen shape human disease: NFS1 in lung cancer, hyperoxia injury, and hypoxia therapy for Friedreich ataxia.
Read the review →[NiFe]-Hydrogenase Cofactor Biosynthesis and the Hyp Maturation Proteins (HypA-F) in E. coli
How E. coli builds the NiFe(CN)2CO cofactor of [NiFe]-hydrogenases: the HypA-F maturation proteins, cyanide and CO ligand synthesis, and nickel insertion.
Read the review →The Zinc Clasp: How Zn2+ Shapes T-Cell Signaling
The zinc clasp is a Zn2+-bridged interface that tethers the kinase Lck to CD4 and CD8 coreceptors, a labile-zinc switch central to T-cell activation and immunity.
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