You are invited to attend this seminar hosted by the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology:
Date: Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Time: 3.30PM – 4.30PM
Venue: IMCB Seminar Room 03-46, Level 3 Proteos, Biopolis, Singapore 138673 (Physical)
Speaker: Dr. Neil Surana, Duke University
Host: Dr. Fu Yu, IMCB
Defining Microbiome-derived Products to Treat Disease
Abstract
It is now clear that human health is intimately tied to the gut microbiota, and there has been significant enthusiasm over the past two decades to harness these host–microbiota interactions as novel therapeutics for medically recalcitrant diseases. The challenge in doing so has been identifying a specific commensal bacterium that protects against the disease of interest, determining what is functionally unique about this bacterium that confers its activity, and understanding how this bacterium and its bioactive product impacts host physiology. This seminar will highlight approaches for addressing these challenges through two vignettes focused on inflammatory/metabolic disease and viral infections. Our findings lay the foundation for using these microbiome-derived products as clinically relevant therapies.
Biography
Dr. Surana completed his undergraduate education at Indiana University where he received degrees in Biochemistry, Economics, and Biology. He subsequently received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Washington University in St. Louis where his doctoral work blended microbial pathogenesis, structural biology, and host-commensal interactions to elucidate mechanisms of protein secretion in gram-negative bacteria. After completing clinical training in general pediatrics and pediatric infectious diseases at Boston Children’s Hospital, Dr. Surana studied the nexus between the microbiota and the host immune system in the laboratory of Dennis Kasper at Harvard Medical School, where Dr. Surana was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics. Dr. Surana moved in 2018 to Duke University, where he is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Immunology, and Cell Biology; he also serves as the Scientific Director for the Duke Gnotobiotic Core. The Surana lab innovatively integrates gnotobiotic murine models, immunology, and microbiology with the ultimate aim of identifying immunomodulatory commensal bacteria and subsequently characterizing their mechanism of action.
ALL ARE WELCOME (No registration required)
