Carlos Ribeiro

Carlos Ribeiro
Fundação Champalimaud, Portugal
Identifying and testing the metabolites generated by two psychoactive gut bacteria to alter brain function and behavior
Project leader

The goal of the project was to use a combination of state of the arts metabolomics and brain calcium imaging approaches to identify how specific gut bacteria in the fly microbiome changes the food choice of the host. In this project we made two major discoveries: We used isotope resolved metabolomics, behavioral analysis, and bacterial genetics to show that gut bacteria exchange specific metabolites to overcome nutritional deficits induced by alterations in host diet, buffer the host from the physiological consequences of dietary amino acid imbalances, and to change protein appetite of the host. In a second phase we developed a novel calcium imaging approach to characterize how the brain changes how it processes taste information when in an amino acid deficient state and identify neurons which change protein appetite.

Carlos Ribeiro is a group leader at the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal. His lab works at the interface of behavior, metabolism, microbiome, and physiology to discover and characterize conserved mechanisms regulating how organisms decide what to eat and how these decisions affect their health and wellbeing. He has contributed to our understanding of how nutrients, organismal physiology, and reproductive states act at the level of neuronal circuits and molecular mechanisms to control nutrient selection. More recently his laboratory has characterized how metabolic interaction among specific gut microbes regulate food cravings and reproduction. He has taken on broader international leadership roles and is currently Secretary General-elect of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies.

Nutrition is a key determinant of health, wellbeing and aging. Ribeiro wants to understand how animals decide what to eat and how these decisions affect the fitness of the animal. To achieve a mechanistic, integrated, whole-animal understanding of nutritional decision-making, Ribeiro and his team work at the interface of behavior, metabolism and physiology in the adult fruit fly. The powerful neurogenetic tools available in model organisms allow us to identify molecular as well as circuit mechanisms involved in producing the appropriate behavioral response to a specific need of the fly. They also dedicate a significant effort to the development of novel, automated and quantitative behavioral assays to understand the behavioral strategies used by the fly to make the right nutritional decisions. The combination of powerful molecular circuit manipulations, sophisticated behavioral analyses, and imaging approaches allows for a mechanistic understanding of how neuronal circuits control nutritional decisions to regulate important traits such as aging and reproduction.

• Henriques, S. F. et al. Metabolic cross-feeding in imbalanced diets allows gut microbes to improve reproduction and alter host behaviour. Nature Communications 11, 4236 (2020).

• Ezra-Nevo, G., Henriques, S. F. & Ribeiro, C. The diet-microbiome tango: how nutrients lead the gut brain axis. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 62, 122–132 (2020).

• Muench, D., Goldschmidt, D. & Ribeiro, C. Distinct internal states interact to shape food choice by modulating sensorimotor processing at global and local scales. bioRxiv 2021.05.27.445920 (2021) doi: 10.1101/2021.05.27.445920.

• ARTE/Deutsche Welle Documentary on Food and the Brain featuring our work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UitrHLGBsps&t=663s

Champalimaud Foundation
Avenida Brasília
1400-038 Lisboa
Portugal

https://ribeirolab.org/