Montana State doctoral student awarded national research service grant for gut microbiome, arsenic research

BOZEMAN - Some researchers discover their dissertation topic in a classroom. For Trenton Wolfe, the connection started much closer to home.

Growing up in Anaconda, Wolfe was familiar with the legacy of arsenic contamination long before he began studying it as a doctoral student at Montana State University. Today, he investigates how antibiotics affect the body's ability to detoxify arsenic, research that recently earned him a highly competitive national fellowship.

Wolfe, a graduate student in the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology in MSU's College of Agriculture, recently received a Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. This fellowship provides approximately $73,000 in funding to support tuition, research supplies, conference travel and specialized training opportunities during the remainder of his doctoral studies.

The fellowship will support Wolfe's dissertation research examining the relationship between antibiotics, the gut microbiome and arsenic exposure.

Previous research in the Walk lab found that bacteria in the gut help absorb and remove arsenic from the body. Wolfe's dissertation examines how antibiotics, which can disrupt those bacteria, may affect the body's ability to withstand arsenic exposure.

Wolfe, who works in the lab of Seth Walk, professor of microbiology and cell biology, said the project seeks to better understand how common antibiotic use may influence the body's response to environmental contaminants.

"Antibiotics are great for treating bacterial infections, and according to the CDC, roughly 70% of Americans are prescribed an antibiotic each year. However, these drugs also disrupt our gut microbiome," he said. "At the same time, more than 200 million people worldwide are exposed to unsafe levels of arsenic. This project looks to see if antibiotic-driven changes to the gut microbiome change the way the body responds to arsenic and how we can give a more holistic risk assessment of arsenic by incorporating antibiotic use, which is currently not in the risk assessment of arsenic."

For Wolfe, the research is deeply personal. As a native of Anaconda, he saw how the community was shaped by a long mining history and ongoing environmental contamination, including arsenic exposure. Anaconda remains one of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund cleanup sites - a designation for areas requiring long-term environmental remediation because of hazardous contamination. Remediation efforts continue to address arsenic and other heavy metals in the groundwater, surface water and soil.

It's long been established that contaminated drinking water is a source of arsenic exposure in humans, including contaminated groundwater and private wells, Wolfe said. He added that arsenic exposure can introduce an array of health issues, including cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

"This research hits close to home for me," said Wolfe. "That's why I got interested in Dr. Walk's lab - somebody who is actually researching arsenic and is in my field of study."

Wolfe's interest in research began when he was a student at Anaconda High School in Kate Mattern's advanced biology class, which partnered with Montana Technological University's Bringing Research into the Classroom program. This National Institutes of Health-funded initiative introduced rural Montana students to hands-on scientific research experiences. Wolfe describes the program as foundational to his scientific development as well as his decision to attend MSU. Through the program, he learned laboratory research techniques and collected water and soil samples from the community to identify bacteria and bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria.

As an undergraduate at MSU, Wolfe began his collegiate research efforts with the Montana Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence program, or Montana INBRE, as a summer intern. Walk served as Wolfe's undergraduate academic adviser and eventually recruited him to work in his lab. Wolfe then transitioned into a Ph.D. student role within the lab.

Walk's lab focuses on researching the gut microbiome interactions with heavy metals and environmental toxicants, and how those interactions influence disease and lifespan.

Wolfe's research has shown that antibiotics can increase arsenic toxicity roughly fourfold in mice, highlighting the potential role of the gut microbiome in protecting against environmental exposures. Wolfe plans to expand the research by examining how antibiotic-driven changes to the gut microbiome influence arsenic's carcinogenic effects, specifically in the urinary bladder.

Wolfe's emphasis on cancer-related outcomes provides a unique contribution to the lab's studies.

"We haven't really developed those models before, and that's something fresh that he brings to the table," said Walk.

Wolfe credits MSU's collaborative research environment - which connects scientists across departments and disciplines - with helping him develop as a researcher. He also participated in the NIH-sponsored TL1 training program, a partnership between MSU and the University of Washington, which helped him prepare for the fellowship application process.

"The opportunities that MSU offers are huge and very helpful for making [students] competitive for these grants" Wolfe said. "MSU is a top-notch R1 institution for a reason, and I think our core research facilities really shine through on that."

R1 is the highest research classification awarded to universities by the Carnegie Classification system. For Wolfe, that distinction is reflected in the university's research infrastructure. Access to facilities including the Animal Resource Center, Mass Spectrometry Facility, Histology and Flow Cytometry Core, and Imaging and Chemical Analysis Laboratory helped him generate the preliminary data that ultimately strengthened his fellowship application.

Walk said the NIH fellowship reflects the strength of Wolfe's research and the recognition it has received from the broader scientific community.

"This just speaks to what our scientific peers think of our research and Trenton's research," Walk said. "It sets us on a national stage."

Tying back to his hometown roots, Wolfe points out the specific impact of long-term research for rural Montana communities.

"Most folks [in Montana] are on private well water, especially in rural areas like Anaconda," he said. "Better protecting their health and giving a more accurate risk assessment by incorporating microbiome status and antibiotic use are the long-term goals of this project."