Teacher Program Seminar Series - 2016-2017

Whitehead Institute’s 2016-2017 Seminar Series for High School Teachers: Gut feelings: Your microbiome, in sickness and in health

The microbiome is increasingly considered an important factor in human health, as a growing number of studies associate the microbes inside our guts and on our skin with the way our bodies function.

Rapid advances in sequencing methods and techniques have enabled scientists to begin to understand precisely how these microbes can support health, cause disease, and perhaps be manipulated to improve human health.

Whitehead Institute’s 2016-2017 Lecture Series for High School Teachers, Gut feelings: Your microbiome, in sickness and in health, will explore in depth the current state of microbiome research and its potential applications in both the near and distant future.

 


KICK-OFF SESSION: MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2016

THE IMPACT OF THE GUT MICROBIOTA ON HUMAN HEALTH

Jonathan Kotula, Lead Scientist, Synlogic therapeutics
[presentation pdf, 2.5MB


MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2016

Sean Gibbons, Postdoctoral Associate in the lab of Prof. Eric Alm at MIT
[presentation pdf, 4.5MB


MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2016

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MICROBES LIVING IN THE GUT AND INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE

Hera Vlamakis, Group Leader - Microbiome, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard


MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 2017

FECAL MICROBIOTA TRANSPLANTATION (FMT) IN THE TREATMENT OF RECURRENT C. DIFFICILE

Mark Smith, Research Director and Co-Founder of OpenBiome
[download presentation here]


MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017

ANTIBIOTIC DISCOVERY FROM MICROBIAL "DARK MATTER"

Slava Epstein, Professor of Biology, Northeastern University
[presentation pdf, 7.3MB


MONDAY, MARCH 6, 2017

HARNESSING MICROBIOME BASED THERAPIES TO TREAT HUMAN DISEASE

Arpita Maiti, Director, External R&D Innovation, Inflammation & Immunology, Pfizer, Inc.
presentation not available 


MONDAY, APRIL 3, 2017

DESIGNING LIVING THINGS

Christina Agapakis, Creative Director, Ginkgo Bioworks
[presentation pdf, 7.5MB


MONDAY, MAY 1, 2017

REDISCOVERING INTESTINAL FORTITUDE

Wayne Matson, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist, Ixcela


MONDAY, JUNE 5, 2017

MAPPING MICROBIOMES AT THE MICRON SCALE

Gary Boris, Senior Investigator at The Forsyth Institute