S190
Human Microbiome Therapeutics
Thursday, July 28, 2016: 2:30 PM
Bayside B/C, 4th Fl (Sheraton New Orleans)
The NIH Human Microbiome Project which ran from 2007-2012 resulted in a vast new appreciation for the role of microorganisms in health and disease – gut microbes are now thought of as a “forgotten human organ”. The role of the microbiome is increasingly evident: infectious, inflammatory, metabolic disease and even oncology treatment are all affected or caused by dysbiosis. The White House recently created a National Microbiome Initiative [1] to acknowledge the importance of this field of research. Seres Therapeutics was founded in 2010 to explore the potential for live microbial ecologies (Ecobiotic® Therapeutics) to be developed as treatments or prophylactics against human disease caused by dybiosis. Seres currently has clinical stage programs in Clostridium difficileand ulcerative colitis, and research programs in human stem cell transplantation (GvHD), immune-oncology treatments, and rare diseases (urea cycle disorders). This talk will discuss the design, fermentation and processing, and analytical characterization of live microbial products as therapeutics for human disease, and the challenges posed to the Industrial Microbiologist and Biotechnologist.
[1] https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/05/13/announcing-national-microbiome-initiative