You Are What You Eat - Insights into the ‘Super Organ Microbiome’

The entirety of the microorganisms with which we humans are colonised is referred to as the microbiota. The symbiotic interactions between the microbiota and its host, the human being, serve to maintain our bodily functions and are of essential importance for a healthy organism, but also for the development of diseases. In addition to genetic information, the environment has a strong influence on the composition and function of a healthy microbiome. Through our diet, but also through the careful use of medication, especially antibiotics, we can prevent disorders in the microbiome, known as dysbiosis. These disorders of the microbiota and its functions are linked to a variety of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, the liver, the nervous system and the psyche. Using modern molecular genetic techniques and artificial intelligence, increasingly precise disease-defining signatures of bacteria, viruses, fungi and archaea in the microbiome of the gastrointestinal tract are being described. It is accepted that changes in the microbiome are (partly) responsible for the development of Clostridioides difficile infection and chronic inflammatory bowel disease, as well as obesity and neurodegenerative diseases. These changes are not limited to bacteria, but also include viruses and fungi. The interactions between the microbiome and the immune system therefore form the rational basis  for new microbiome-modulating therapy concepts.

The event is in German language.

More information: Du bist was du isst – Einblicke in das „Superorgan Mikrobiom“ (uni-jena.de)