Page 9 - EUREKA -Fall 2014

Forbes. “Students come in and talk. outcome is that the antibiotic-treated potential of being hugely exciting.”
The Peanut Allergy Project interested mice become highly vulnerable and “It would be one of the first
(Boutin) and she talked to me about actually develop an allergic response, documented association between
the possibility of doing it.” says hayley. Then the specific factors antibiotic use and food allergies in
Forbes, who is also associate vice- in the body that triggered the an experimental setting, and if we
president of research at Carleton, was reactions can be determined. don’t find anything, it won’t be time
looking for a project Boutin could But there is the possibility that a wasted. A student will have been
work on, on campus grounds. her lab secondary effect of using antibiotics trained to take multiple approaches to Cover Story
experience and previous knowledge could confuse the intestinal system, a research problem.”
of how to work with rodent models Forbes points out. “Antibiotics This is such a timely problem, adds
made her a perfect fit. should cause changes in gut flora. hayley. “Given the large number
“I’m interested in Darwinian We suspect this will happen. One of kids and even adults who are
medicine (to understand why people of our collaborators, (assistant developing allergies, it is important
get sick rather than how they get biology professor) Alex Wong, has to tackle the mechanism and add this
sick), how evolution and medicine the expertise to study the ways that data to the research community.”
are related,” Boutin explains. Boutin, antibiotics cause these changes in the No matter what the outcome of
who is currently concentrating her gut and we can study those changes the experiment is, the data could
degree in health science, plans to go relative to physiological outcomes to possibly inform other areas of
on to study medicine and eventually determine if there is a link.” If a link is immunology as well, says hayley.
become a clinician scientist where found in the mouse models, Forbes For example, it could be co-morbid
she can make a difference behind the and hayley want to define the types with other diseases such as Crohn’s
scenes. of antibiotics that are causing the disease, or others that have an
“I became interested in this link linkage. inflammatory component.
between antibiotics and allergies “We would expand the scope of With the possibility of such an
and the idea that we are being the project,” says Forbes. “We would important contribution to the research
over-sheltered immunologically,” have to try different allergies, tree community, we will be keeping an eye
Boutin says. This interest sprung out nuts for example. We would need out for Forbes’ and hayley’s results.
of literature the biology student had more critical research.”
read, which found early hypothesis On this subject, the pair have
that the increase in hygiene standards approached Ryan Davies, the
in Western society correlated to advancement communications
higher incidences of asthma, food director at Carleton, to raise money
allergies, and eczema, and more. through the school’s FutureFunder
“It’s early in life that you develop platform, which funds various
your immune responses,” notes initiatives for students and faculty
Boutin. “That’s when you learn to around campus.
recognize harmful versus harmless and “We hope to take it to the next
recognize self from non-self.” stages if we find something,” Forbes
hayley notes, “(Boutin) has says. “After four months, we will
researched the history of allergy know if there is a link. It could take
research with a fine-toothed comb. another four months to translate the
The problem is still out there ready results and some time to determine
to be challenged. We want to know the mechanism, but it has the
what’s driving the increase in allergies,
specifically peanut allergies. Is it the
toxins in the environment? Or is it a
situation like an increase in antibiotics Did You Know?
that is changing the micro flora in the
gut?”
Boutin began her experiment this you can lend your support to the Peanut
summer, and will conduct her study
over a four-month period. She plans Project and other Carleton science research
to give antibiotics to baby mice, and
then study their behavior to determine projects through FutureFunder?
if they are more susceptible to
developing an allergy.
Forbes and hayley’s “peanut Visit futurefunder.ca
project” differs from other studies in
that will set the stage for exploring a
particular mechanistic cause. The best

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