Translational Omics Group (J.Kloviņš lab)
Our group’s efforts are centered on several aspects of translational medicine. We apply different omics technologies to understand the mechanisms driving the disease development and drug action with an emphasis on metabolic and gut-related diseases. A particular focus is on the processes affected by the microbiome. For our research projects we extensively use the existing Biobank resources and establish new collaborations with hospitals and medical doctors. We perform longitudinal studies on selected groups of healthy volunteers or patients with extensive phenotyping and sampling. Pharmaco-omics of Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is the main research direction that involves both the human studies and research of animal models. Main achievements of our group is discovery of various genetic in microbiome related factors that strongly affects efficacy of metformin, the main antidiabetic medication and its side effects. To advance beyond identified correlations, we aim to estimate causal interactions between the host components and microbiome. Our group also collaborates extensively with medical researchers in Latvia, facilitating personalized medicine in Latvia, including research on COVID-19.
Jānis Kloviņš, PhD
Head of the scientific group, senior researcher
Personnel
Jānis Kloviņš, PhD, prof., klovins@biomed.lu.lv
Monta Brīvība, PhD, monta.briviba@biomed.lu.lv
Ilze Elbere, PhD, ilze.elbere@biomed.lu.lv
Laila Silamiķele, PhD, laila.silamikele@biomed.lu.lv
Agnese Viļuma, PhD, agnese.viluma@biomed.lu.lv
Ivars Silamiķelis, MSc. biol., ivars.silamikelis@biomed.lu.lv
Laura Ansone, MSc. biol., laura.ansone@biomed.lu.lv
Maija Rozenberga, MSc. biol., maija.rozenberga@biomed.lu.lv
Raimonds Resčenko, MSc.biol., raimonds.rescenko@biomed.lu.lv
Līga Birzniece, BSc. biol., liga.birzniece@biomed.lu.lv
Ivanna Atava, ivanna.atava@biomed.lu.lv
Lauma Jagare, lauma.jagare@biomed.lu.lv
Daniella Borisova, daniella.borisova@biomed.lu.lv
Laura Bunka, laura.bunka@biomed.lu.lv
Līva Pelcmane, liva.pelcmane@biomed.lu.lv
Justīne Puriņa, justine.purina@biomed.lu.lv
Areas for searching partners
- Microbiome and other omics-based research in metabolic and gastrointestinal diseases
- Microbiome and lifestyle factors
- Development of biomarker based personalised preventive and treatment approaches
10 the most representative publications for the scientific group
- Elbere I, Silamikelis I, Dindune II, Kalnina I, Ustinova M, Zaharenko L, Silamikele L, Rovite V, Gudra D, Konrade I, Pirags V, Klovins J. Baseline gut microbiome composition predicts metformin therapy short-term efficacy in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients. PLoS One. 2020;15(10 October).
- Ustinova M, Ansone L, Silamikelis I, Rovite V, Elbere I, Silamikele L, Kalnina I, Fridmanis D, Sokolovska J, Konrade I, Pirags V, Klovins J. Whole-blood transcriptome profiling reveals signatures of metformin and its therapeutic response. PLoS One. 2020;15(8 August).
- García-Calzón S, Perfilyev A, Martinell M, Ustinova M, Kalamajski S, Franks PW, Bacos K, Elbere I, Pihlajamäki J, Volkov P, Ahlqvist E, Ling C. Epigenetic markers associated with metformin response and intolerance in drug-naïve patients with type 2 diabetes. Sci Transl Med. 2020;12(561).
- Ustinova M, Silamikelis I, Kalnina I, Ansone L, Rovite V, Elbere I, Radovica-Spalvina I, Fridmanis D, Aladyeva J, Konrade I, Pirags V, Klovins J. Metformin strongly affects transcriptome of peripheral blood cells in healthy individuals. PLoS One. 2019;14(11).
- Elbere I, Silamikelis I, Ustinova M, Kalnina I, Zaharenko L, Peculis R, Konrade I, Ciuculete DM, Zhukovsky C, Gudra D, Schiöth HB, Klovins J. Significantly altered peripheral blood cell DNA methylation profile as a result of immediate effect of metformin use in healthy individuals. Clin Epigenetics. 2018;10(1).
- Elbere I, Kalnina I, Silamikelis I, Konrade I, Zaharenko L, Sekace K, Radovica-Spalvina I, Fridmanis D, Gudra D, Pirags V, Pirags V, Klovins J. Association of metformin administration with gut microbiome dysbiosis in healthy volunteers. PLoS One. 2018;13(9).
- Mandrika I, Tilgase A, Petrovska R, Klovins J. Hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor ligands modulate proinflammatory cytokine expression in human macrophages and adipocytes without affecting adipose differentiation. Biol Pharm Bull. 2018;41(10):1574–80.
- Rovite V, Wolff-Sagi Y, Zaharenko L, Nikitina-Zake L, Grens E, Klovins J. Genome database of the latvian population (LGDB): Design, goals, and primary results. J Epidemiol. 2018;28(8):353–60.
- Zaharenko L, Kalnina I, Geldnere K, Konrade I, Grinberga S, Židzik J, Javorský M, Lejnieks A, Nikitina-Zake L, Fridmanis D, Pirags V, Klovins J. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the intergenic region between metformin transporter OCT2 and OCT3 coding genes are associated with short-Term response to metformin monotherapy in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Eur J Endocrinol. 2016;175(6):531–40.
- Zhou K, Yee SW, Seiser EL, Van Leeuwen N, Tavendale R, Bennett AJ, Groves CJ, Coleman RL, Van Der Heijden AA, Beulens JW, Giacomini KM, Pearson ER. Variation in the glucose transporter gene SLC2A2 is associated with glycemic response to metformin. Nat Genet. 2016;48(9):1055–9