NUTRIMMUNE project results presented at mid-term symposium in Paris
On 11 February 2025, the projects funded through the NUTRIMMUNE call held their mid-term symposium at the headquarters of the French National Research Agency (ANR) in Paris. The symposium presented an excellent opportunity for the projects to share their progress and results to date.
About NUTRIMMUNE
Unhealthy diets are a major driver of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like obesity and type 2 diabetes, affecting over 2 billion adults worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed once again how these metabolic conditions can worsen infectious diseases. There is a growing need to better understand the role of nutrition in immune function.
Therefore, HDHL launched a funding call in 2022 to support research on the role of nutrition in immune function, resilience and dysfunction, and its interplay between diet-related metabolic and infectious diseases. Through the call with the title “Nutrition-responsiveness of the immune system: interplay between infectious diseases and diet-related metabolic diseases and the potential for food-based solutions (NUTRIMMUNE)”, six projects were funded which started their research in 2023 and receiving a total of €5,9 million of funding.
All projects responded amazingly to the call, were multi-transdisciplinary, and used various techniques
The symposium
Around 30 people attended the symposium, including the project coordinators, project partners, funders and experts. Among the experts were four members of the HDHL Scientific Advisory Board and Stakeholder Advisory Board, to contribute to the discussions.
During the symposium, the projects shared an update of their research and there was plenty of room to discuss the results. For example, the TransInf project was the first to reveal how a short dietary intervention affects the immune system and metabolism in Tanzania. A switch between a traditional African diet and a Western diet, alongside the consumption of a traditional fermented banana beverage, significantly impacted immune and metabolic functions. Another project, METARYL, has shown that the essential dietary component and amino acid tryptophan can be transformed by gut bacteria to help improve wound healing after surgery.
Furthermore, this symposium was the perfect opportunity for the researchers to connect with each other. New connections and collaborations developed between projects, creating opportunities for mutual support and shared learning.
The chair of the HDHL Scientific Advisory Board, professor John Mathers, concluded the symposium by saying that "All projects responded amazingly to the call, were multi-transdisciplinary, and used various techniques. There were well-conducted discussions during the symposium, with good interactions, hard questions asked, and thoughtful answers given."
More information on the interim project results will be shared soon via the project pages.