Lab-made Food? How science literacy helps us to understand food tech with Chana Davis, PhD

In this episode of Let's Gut Real, I interview Colin Hill Ph.D on how our microbiome develops, the role it plays in our health, current research limitations and mistakes we make when looking at the gut microbiome, and things we can get excited about for future research.

Colin Hill has a Ph.D in molecular microbiology and is Professor of Microbiology at University College Cork, Ireland. His main interests are in infectious disease, particularly in the role of the gut microbiome in protecting against microbial infections. He is also a Principal Investigator in APC Microbiome Ireland in Cork, a large Science Foundation Ireland supported research centre working with industry devoted to the study of the role of the gut microbiota in health and disease. In 2005 Prof. Hill was awarded a Doctor of Science by the National University of Ireland in recognition of his contributions to research. In 2009 he was elected to the Royal Irish Academy and in 2010 he received the Metchnikoff Prize in Microbiology and was elected to the American Academy of Microbiology. More than 75 students have done their PhD’s in his laboratory. He has published more than 550 papers and holds 25 patents.

We talk about

• The evolution of humans and microbes
• Why you ‘get the microbiome you deserve’
• How will we define a healthy microbiome, what are the limitations?
• Thoughts on commercial kits – can we really interpret them in individual care?
• Getting back to what Mother Nature has given us as a form of drug therapy by way of using microbes and microbial chemicals to treat disease

To learn more about Colin Hill, see his research at University College Cork or follow him on Twitter