Uncovering The Role of the Human Intestinal Microbiome in Health and Disease, presented by Scott Amon, Assistant Professor, Le Moyne College. 

From Professor Amon: My lab works with a small nematode, C. elegans, model organism to study how environment impacts health and development. The environmental factors we focus on are diet and gut microbiota. We ask several fundamental questions, such as what makes a gut microbiome ‘healthy’? What are good or bad microbes? Can microbiomes harm the intestine and the nervous system? We address these questions using interdisciplinary approaches at the intersection of molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics. Furthermore, my lab is also interested in using the human microbiome to identify factor(s) that reduce virulence of P. aeruginosa. P. aeruginosa including the lung, ventilator-associated pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cystic fibrosis. Together, my research is purposefully designed to shed some light on the function of the human microbiota on health.