"Is there a link between the intestinal microbiome and non-alchoholic fatty liver disease?"
Johane Allard, MD, FRCP, AGAF, CAGF
Through the research of Dr. Allard's lab and others, this seminar will review the evidence showing differences in the intestinal microbiome (IM) between healthy subjects and those with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); IM associations with disease severity; differences in bacterial metabolite profile and bile acid composition as well as evidence that IM-targeted therapy improve NAFLD.
Dr. Allard is a clinician-investigator, with a research focus in nutrition and gastrointestinal disorders. She is a professor of Medicine at U of T, where she is crossed-appointed at the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Institute of Medical Sciences. She is also a senior scientist at the Toronto General Research Institute, University Health Network.
"Impact of the microbiome post bariatric surgery on metabolic outcomes"
Jitender Yadav, PhD
Dr. Yadav is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Professor Dana Philpott in the Department of Immunology at the University of Toronto, where he seeks mechanistic insights into the impact of the gut microbiome on host physiology and metabolism.
His lab recently showed that after gastric bypass surgery, gut microbes transferred from patients to germ-free, high fat diet-fed mice improved metabolic parameters including insulin sensitivity, blood glucose levels and degree of brown fat, compared to animals that received pre-surgery microbiota.
Dr. Yadav has a PhD from the National Institute of Immunology in India where he investigated modulation of host immune activities upon infection with pathogenic Salmonella.