Microbiome & Mental Health: Connecting gut microbes to mood

Date: Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Time: 12:00 - 13:00 ET

Speaker: Jane A. Foster, PhD, McMaster University

To register, CLICK HERE

All complex life evolved from and co-evolved with microbes. Our microbiome impacts both our physical and mental health. Compelling evidence demonstrates that many factors including diet influence the composition, diversity, and function of our microbiota. Recent findings, linking the microbiome to mental health, raise new questions about human behavior at the intersection of human and microbial biology.This webinar will provide a state-of-the-art overview of how microbes in our guts shape our behavior and mental health.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Provide an introduction to the microbiome and the factors that influence composition, diversity, and function.
  2. Highlight key studies that demonstrate microbes influence mood.
  3. Summarize the current evidence for microbiota-targeted and diet-based interventions for mental health.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Jane Foster is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University. Dr. Foster received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1996. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, MI, Dr. Foster spent four years as a research fellow in the Section on Functional Neuroanatomy at the National Institute of Mental Health, in Bethesda, MD. At NIMH her research focused on neural-glial interactions and the roles played by immune signaling molecules in the brain during pathophysiological changes.

Dr. Foster is an active researcher in two large translational networks -  the Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Disorders Network (POND) and the Canadian Biomarkers in Depression (CAN-BIND). By combining basic science research with clinical collaboration in psychiatry, psychology, and gastroenterology, the Foster lab has developed a ‘bench to bedside’ and back again approach to studying microbiota-brain and immune-brain systems aimed at understanding how these relationships contribute to psychiatric disorders such as neurodevelopmental disorders, anxiety and depression. 


To register, CLICK HERE


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