Interest in bacteria and other creatures living on and inside us keeps climbing. On August 15 and 16, scientists from a wide array of disciplines will gather for the Emory Microbiome Research Center inaugural symposium.

On the first day, Lab Land is looking forward to hearing from several of the speakers, touching on topics stretching from insects/agricultural pathogens to neurodegenerative disease. The second day is a hands on workshop organized by instructor Anna Knight on sorting through microbiome data. The symposium will be at WHSCAB (Woodruff Health Sciences Center Auditorium). Registration before August 2 is encouraged!

Many of the projects that we highlighted four years ago, when Emory held its first microbiome symposium, have continued and gathered momentum. Guest keynotes are from Rodney Newberry from WUSTL and Gary Wu from Penn.

The Emory Microbiome Research Center itself is still being formalized with a web page to come. Here is an older listing on the Department of Medicine page. Endocrinologist/immunologist/bone biology expert Roberto Pacifici, who has a lead role in organizing the new center, was recently interviewed by The Scientist. The article sketches out the complicated relationships between commensal bacteria that support bone health:

“The model is that Lactobacillus produces lactate, which feeds the commensal bacteria Clostridia and Bacteroides. They then go on to produce the short chain fatty acid butyrate, which, when fed to mice on its own, stimulates bone growth just as well as the probiotic does.”