Episode Description
The human microbiome consists of viruses, fungi, bacteria – even parasites and protozoa – that live on and in our bodies. And today, the microbiome is having a 'scientific moment': researchers are testing its uses to improve health, and, as a therapeutic agent to treat everything from bloodstream infection to the ill effects of cancer treatment. In this episode of UHN's 'Behind the Breakthrough,' leading Canadian microbiome research scientist Dr. Bryan Coburn explains how our understanding of the microbiome is growing exponentially, and the human clinical trials he's conducting to determine if it can be a therapeutic tool to treat patients. Learn about how the microbiome affects you, and how to harness its potential to become a tool to improve health.
About Dr. Bryan Coburn
Dr. Bryan Coburn is a Clinician-Scientist in Infectious Diseases at the University Health Network in Toronto. He completed his medical degree and PhD training at the University of British Columbia and then Internal Medicine, Infectious Disease and post-doctoral research training at the University, the latter in Cell and Systems Biology supervised by David Guttman and David Hwang. His laboratory studies human-associated microbes and their genomes (the 'microbiota' or 'microbiome') and the relationship between microbial ecology and infectious and non-infectious diseases. More recently, he has been developing and pursuing clinical trials of microbiome-targeting interventions in populations of individuals where microbiome composition has been linked to clinical outcomes. His laboratory is at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute and his clinical practice is at UHN.
Want to learn more about Dr. Coburn and his work? Check out some of his research papers:
Producer: Catherine Danko | Host: Christian Coté |
Sound Engineer: 217 Audio
