NCCIH Lectures Explore Gut Microbes and Health

This spring, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health offers three lectures on the theme of “Gut Microbes: Emerging Insights on Health and Disease.”  

On Wednesday, May 9 at 11 a.m. in Lipsett Amphitheater, Bldg. 10, Dr. Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello will speak on “Gut Microbes in a Disruptive Age.” Mammals are colonized with live microbes—acquired during birth—that play a role in healthy development. Practices such as cesarean section and modern antimicrobial measures can reduce this transmission and disrupt the microbiome. Dominguez-Bello will discuss the effect on risk for immune and metabolic diseases and also how lifestyle changes, such as increasing urbanization, can affect the microbiome. She is Henry Rutgers professor of microbiome and health at Rutgers University and holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.

Dr. Isaac Chiu of Harvard Medical School will lecture on “Bacteria Get on Your Nerves: How Bugs Modulate Pain and Immunity,” on Monday, June 10 at 11 a.m. in Lipsett. He will discuss his research on interactions of the nervous system, the immune system and microbes in health and disease, which may lead to new treatments for inflammation and pain. Knowing more about how bacteria communicate with pain fibers, for example, could tell us more about the mechanisms in pain. Chiu received his Ph.D. in immunology from Harvard Medical School, where he is an assistant professor of immunology. He is a recipient of the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award.

In a rescheduled event, Dr. Sean Brady will present “Watch Your Step: There Is New Chemistry Everywhere,” on Wednesday, June 26 at 9:30 a.m. in Lipsett. He has developed innovative approaches to identify and characterize the huge community of natural products from uncultured bacteria. He will discuss applying these tools to the search for new treatments such as antibiotics and to learning more about how bacteria interact with the surrounding world. Brady is Evnin and Tri-Institutional professor and head of the Laboratory of Genetically Encoded Small Molecules at the Rockefeller University. He received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Cornell University.

Natural products, including in relation to the gut microbiome, are a priority area for NCCIH. The lectures will be videocast and are part of the center’s Integrative Medicine Research Lecture Series. To find out more, visit https://nccih.nih.gov/news/events/IMlectures.