MSc Thesis query.

Hi Professor Kwan,

Instead of focusing on the two probiotic species, I was thinking of focusing on one or two specific diseases out of the following: colorectal/colon cancer, Crohn's disease, Ulcerative Colitis, etc.

So now my "revised" topic might be something like "Prebiotic effects on the gut microbiome and its benefits for colorectal cancer" (or Crohn's disease, Colitis, etc.)

Or perhaps "Prebiotic effects on the gut microbiome and its benefits for the PREVENTION of colorectal cancer" (or Crohn's disease, Colitis, etc.)

How does that sound?

Thanks again!

Jeremy

Re: Thesis query (new topic after discussion with you)

Dear Professor Kwan,

That's true. They are probiotics, but if I don't talk about their effects on the guy, I don't really know what to say when describing how prebiotics can improve our health, since the beneficial effects of prebiotics are basically all executed through probiotics, right? Or not? I might have misunderstood some information like  this, please correct me if I am wrong. 

Alternately, should I focus on something else, say for example, butyrate or anti-microbial compounds derived from prebiotics and can improve our gut health? (Maybe that will help me focus more on prebiotics rather than probiotics).

Thanks for your help!

Jeremy 

On 11 Feb 2016, at 9:36 PM, Prof. HS Kwan (School of Life Sciences) <hskwan@eservices.cuhk.edu.hk> wrote:

Dear Jeremy,

I have no objection to your idea of reviewing how Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus species affect gut microbiome. Just one problem...they are probiotics, not prebiotics.

Best,

HS Kwan

---

From: Jeremy Wu [jerrywazhere@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2016 3:49 PM
To: Prof. HS Kwan (School of Life Sciences); hskwan288.fnsc6313@blogger.com
Subject: Thesis query (new topic after discussion with you)

Dear Professor Kwan,

Happy Chinese New Year! Wishing you a prosperous and joyful year.

We discussed about having a more specific topic of the body of my thesis, remember?

I've been reading up on prebiotics and probiotics a bit and I was wondering if this topic idea would be comprehensive enough:

My thesis is about the effect of prebiotics on the gut microbiome, and how this affects health.

I'm hoping to write the main body on how "bifidobacteria and lactobacillus species" can affect the intestinal health (maybe looking at cancers or something like that) .

This topic seems to have more literature, and it will be specific to bifidobacter and lactobacillus species; but I have not determined which diseases to focus on yet.

How does this direction sound? Is it specific enough?

Sincerely,

Jeremy

P.S. I will also be using this topic for my abstract and presentation.