Elias Maris

CRIG member
Elias Maris


PhD Researcher Centre of Excellence in Mycotoxicology & Public Health (Department of Bioanalysis, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UGent)
PhD Researcher RaesLab, Laboratory of Molecular Bacteriology (Department of microbiology, immunology and transplantation, Faculty of Medicine, KU Leuven)
Principal investigators: Prof. Sarah De Saeger (PhD), Prof. Marthe De Boevre (PhD) & Prof. Jeroen Raes. (PhD)
 

Research focus

Exposure to environmental hazards, such as air pollution, persitent chemicals and toxins, is suspected to have a negative impact on human health, leading to chronic diseases and accelerated biological ageing. The exposome is defined as the cumulative measure of environmental influences and associated biological responses throughout the lifespan including exposures from the environment, diet, behaviour and endogenous processes.
FLEXiGUT is the first large-scale exposomics study focused on chronic low-grade gut inflammation and related biological processes and diseases, including gastrointestinal cancers. Two Flemish prospective cohorts are used to cover the human life course: the “ENVIRONAGE birth cohort”, a mother-child cohort from gestation to the age of 10 years, and the “Flemish Gut Flora Project longitudinal cohort”, a cohort of adults. To be able to answer the scientific questions of the project, it has been calculated that a sample size of 400 individuals is required for each cohort.
Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi when growing on crops used for human and animal consumption. Mycotoxins are significant to cancer research because long-term exposure can cause toxic effects such as genetic changes in target organs, resulting in cancer. For example, Aflatoxin B1 is known to covalently bind to DNA. The formation of these DNA adducts can lead to mutations and chemically-induced carcinogenesis. Mycotoxin biomarkers and metabolites in urine and blood will be analysed by LC-MS/MS. DNA adductomics will provide a direct reflection of the genotoxin exposure, effects and disease risk.
To link the exposures and the health outcomes, the integration of multiple types of -omics datasets, that is, multi-omics will give opportunities for finding correlations between features, developing classifier and predictive models, discovering biomarkers and elucidate early molecular events in the pathways leading to cancer.
 

Contact & links

  • Lab address: Ottergemsesteenweg 460 – 9000 Ghent
  • LinkedIn
  • Elias Maris is interested to receive invitations for presentations or talks