We held a seminar with speaker Julian Crane. The human microbiome is a collection of microscopic organisms living in and on our bodies and each one of us has our own unique community of microbes, as individual as our fingerprints. But what do we know about the role of our microbiome in our health, and in particular in our immune system? View the event video.
The collection of microscopic organisms, including bacteria, fungi and viruses that lives in and on our bodies is called the microbiome. The human microbiome (all of our microbes’ genes) can be considered a counterpart to the human genome (all of our genes). Unlike our genome which we are born with and can’t change, our microbiome can be changed simply by changing what we eat. Come along and hear about the recent developments and understanding of our microbial environment both internal and external and how it shapes our immunity.
Presentation: Julian Crane, At home with your microbes (pdf)
Speaker
Julian Crane is a research professor in the Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Wellington. He is Co-Director of He Kainga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme, a member of the New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities and Director of the Wellington Asthma Research Group. Julian’s research interests include epidemiological studies of asthma and allergic disease, and the respiratory health effects of housing. He is a member of the steering group for the large international study of asthma in children, the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC), and a member of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand and the European Respiratory Society.
This seminar took place on Wednesday 28 June 2017 at Adam Auditorium, City Gallery, 101 Wakefield St, Wellington.
For more information please contact libby.grant@otago.ac.nz.