2018 Harvard Probiotics Symposium

Gut Health, Microbiota & Probiotics Throughout the Lifespan 2018:
Dietary Influences

October 10-11, 2018
Joseph B. Martin Conference Center
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA

The symposium will provide an overview of the latest scientific evidence related to gut microbiota and probiotics and their importance to health across the lifespan. This specifically includes the pregnancy period, infancy and childhood, adulthood, and older adults. The goals of the symposium include the following:

1) To explore how diet and the gut microbiota interact to affect host defense and metabolism;
2) To discuss diet as an environmental factor and explore if it has a strong influence on the intestinal microbiome; and
3) To determine how fermented foods, yogurt, etc., are important in human health.
 

No webcast recordings are available for this event.

 

Welcome and Introductions

W. Allan Walker, MD
Conrad Taff Professor of Nutrition and Pediatrics
Director, Division of Nutrition Harvard Medical School
Director, Mucosal Immunology Laboratory
Massachusetts General Hospital for Children

Keynote: Nutrition and Microbiota in Health

Jeffrey Gordon, MD
Dr. Robert J. Glaser Distinguished University Professor
Director, Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology
Washington University in St. Louis, USA

SESSION I - THE PERINATAL AND CHILDHOOD PERIOD 

Moderator:
W. Allan Walker, MD

Session I Keynote: Diet, Metabolites and Western-Lifestyle Inflammatory Diseases

Charles Mackay, PhD, FAA
Professor, Monash University, Australia

The Prenatal Period: Impact of the Maternal Diet, Including Probiotics

Erika Isolauri, MD, PhD
Professor of Pediatrics, University of Turku
Chief Physician, Department of Pediatrics, Turku University Hospital, Finland

The Neonatal Period: Breast Feeding and the Gut Microbiome

Eline Van Der Beek, PhD
Professor of Nutritional Programming, University Medical Center Groningen
Research Director Early Development, Danone Nutricia Early Life Nutrition

Gut Microbiota Maturation and Undernutrition

Sathish Subramanian, MD, PhD
Resident, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, USA

Celiac Disease

Alessio Fasano, MD
W. Allan Walker Chair of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition
Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Chief of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition
Associate Chief, Department of Pediatrics, Basic, Clinical and Translational Research
MassGeneral Hospital for Children, USA
Director of the Center for Celiac Research and Treatment
Director of the Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center
Massachusetts General Hospital, USA

Session I Summary

Allan Walker, MD

SESSION II - ADULTS 

Moderator
Balfour Sartor, MD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Session II Keynote: Diet and Microbiota During Adulthood in Health and Disease

Gary Wu, MD
Ferdinand G. Weisbrod Professor in Gastroenterology
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, USA

Intestinal Microbiota in Developed vs. Developing Countries

Erwin Zoetendal, PhD
Associate Professor, Wageningen University & Research Centre, Netherlands

Effects of the Diet on the Microbiota and Inflammatory Responses in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Ian Sanderson, MD
Professor of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Queen Mary University of London, UK

Diet/Microbial Interactions in Cardiovascular Disease

Jake Lusis, PhD
Professor, Departments of Microbiology Medicine
University of California- Los Angeles, USA

SESSION II - ADULTS 

Moderator: Balfour Sartor, MD,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Influences of Functional and Fermented Foods on Intestinal Health

Robert Hutkins, PhD
Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology
University of Nebraska- Lincoln, USA

Session II Summary

Balfour Sartor, MD
Distinguished Professor, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

SESSION III - OLDERS ADULTS

Moderator
Peter Holt, MD
Rockefeller University

Session III Keynote: Diet and Microbiota in Health of the Elderly

Paul O’Toole, PhD
Professor of Microbial Genomics
School of Microbiology & APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork

Immunosenescence & Microbiota

Simin Meydani, DVM, PhD
Vice Provost for Research, Tufts University, USA

Twin Studies and Aging Disorders

Claire Steves, MA, MBBS, MRCP, PhD
Senior Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Physician
Kings College London, and Guys and St Thomas’s NHS Foundation Trust UK

C. difficile in Older Adults

Cirle Warren, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine, USA

Session III Summary

Peter Holt, MD
Senior Research Associate
Associate Director, Sackler Center for Biomedicine and Nutrition
Rockefeller University, USA

Closing Remarks

W. Allan Walker, MD

Unrestricted Educational Grants provided by: Danone Nutricia Research, Global Probiotics Council, Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard, and Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd.