Are We Ready? Resilience as a Biomarker for a “Healthy” Gut Microbiome

Chair(s)

• 

  J. Philip Karl, PhD, RD

  Nutrition Physiologist
  Military Nutrition Division
  U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine
  Roslindale, Massachusetts, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Speaker(s)

• CH

  Curtis Huttenhower, PhD (he/him/his)

  Professor
  Biostatistics Department
  Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
  Boston, Massachusetts, United States

  Disclosure(s): Seres Therapeutics: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Consultant (Ongoing); Stock Shareholder (excluding mutual funds) (Ongoing)
  ZOE: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing)
• AJ

  Abigail Johnson, PhD, RD

  Assistant Professor
  School of Public Health
  University of Minnesota
  Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
• 

  Jotham Suez, PhD (he/him/his)

  Assistant Professor
  Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology
  Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
  Baltimore, Maryland, United States

  Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Gut microbiome “resilience" is a commonly applied metric in gut microbiome research, a characteristic that may be positive or negative depending upon the research question and context. Does “resilience” have potential as a biomarker for healthier gut microbiomes? This session will review varying perspectives on how resilience, stability, and other related properties are defined and measured. Population variability in resilience, including responders vs. non-responders compared to the “average” response will be discussed. Speakers will review how resilience is conferred against diverse stressors such as diet, food-borne pathogens, antibiotics, or other factors. Other key topics will include how diet affects resilience in humans (both positive and negative – and including food safety considerations), and related mechanisms; and recovery, or how the gut microbiome can be influenced to return to “baseline” following perturbation. This session is a collaboration between IAFNS and ASN’s Nutritional Microbiology GEM.

Presentations:

• 2:00 PM – 2:05 PM ET

  Introduction - Are We Ready? Resilience as a Biomarker for a “Healthy” Gut Microbiome – an IAFNS-ASN Nutritional Microbiology GEM Collaboration
  

  Chair: J. Philip Karl, PhD, RD – U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine
• 2:05 PM – 2:25 PM ET

  Gut Microbiome Resilience: Measurement, Mechanisms & Meaning
  

  Speaker: Curtis Huttenhower, PhD (he/him/his) – Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• 2:25 PM – 2:45 PM ET

  Does Diet Affect Resilience?
  

  Speaker: Abigail J. Johnson, PhD, RD – University of Minnesota
• 2:45 PM – 3:05 PM ET

  Using Dietary Interventions to Recover from a Microbiome-Disrupting Event
  

  Speaker: Jotham Suez, PhD (he/him/his) – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• 3:05 PM – 3:30 PM ET

  Panel Discussion - Are We Ready? Resilience as a Biomarker for a “Healthy” Gut Microbiome – an IAFNS-ASN Nutritional Microbiology GEM Collaboration
  

  Chair: J. Philip Karl, PhD, RD – U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine

  Speaker: Curtis Huttenhower, PhD (he/him/his) – Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

  Speaker: Abigail J. Johnson, PhD, RD – University of Minnesota

  Speaker: Jotham Suez, PhD (he/him/his) – Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health