Researcher decoding connections between lifestyle, gut microbiota and chronic disease

The gut microbiota, or microbiome, is made up of a vast collection of bacteria, viruses and fungi. The microbiome not only breaks down food, synthesizes vitamins and harnesses energy from carbohydrates, but it also has a big impact on overall health.

 Scientists are learning how diet, nutrition and physical activity impacts our gut microbiota, with the hope of finding ways to help manage, treat and prevent conditions ranging from mental health disorders to inflammatory bowel disease and even cardiovascular health.

Dr. Jane Shearer, PhD, a University of Calgary professor with ties to both the Faculty of Kinesiology and the Cumming School of Medicine, is at the forefront of this important work. She’s on a mission to decipher the complex relationships between lifestyle, the environment and chronic disease risk with the goal of predicting, preventing and treating them.

With training in both metabolism and nutrition, Shearer has a particular interest in examining how diet and gut microbiota contribute to the development of cardiometabolic diseases such as heart attacks, strokes and diabetes in women.

“The microbiome is integral to our overall wellbeing, and its health can be impacted by a number of environmental factors, such as what you eat, your stress levels and your level of physical activity,” says Shearer. “I am interested in how all these factors work together and in using this information to develop targeted therapies to modify the health of the microbiome and disease risk.”

Shearer heads a busy lab with numerous projects underway, including one looking at the impact of hypertension and cardiovascular medications on the gut microbiota. Using data collected through the Alberta’s Tomorrow Project, Alberta’s largest health research study, Shearer hopes to help women maintain a healthy microbiome to minimize women’s risk of heart disease, limit disease progression and avoid complications related to medications.

Recent publications from the lab include a study that showed that exercise duration, rather than intensity, is key to gut health. Results also showed that the benefits of exercise on the gut microbiota were dependent on body mass index, a measure of overweight and obesity.

Education and career background

Shearer completed a Bachelor of Science (Life Science) and a Bachelor of Physical & Health Education from Queen’s University and a Certificate of Food Science from Ontario Agricultural College at the University of Guelph.

She received a PhD in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Guelph. Her introduction to chronic diseases was at the National Institutes of Health training centre for diabetes at Vanderbilt University where she completed her post-doctoral training.

Shearer began her career at the University of Calgary in 2004 as managing director of the Clara Christie Centre for Mouse Genomics & Modeling of Human Disease Faculty of Medicine. To date, she has published more than 120 articles, book chapters and abstracts in peer-reviewed journals.

Jane Shearer, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Medicine at the Cumming School of Medicine and in the Department of Molecular Biology in the Faculty of Kinesiology. She is a member of the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, The Calvin, Phoebe and Joan Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, and the Libin Cardiovascular Institute.