It is believed that over 100 trillion microbes make up the human gut microbiome. These microorganisms decompose indigestible substances such as fiber, providing an energy source for their human host. They also metabolize ingested food to produce various beneficial “postbiotic” compounds, including amino acids, vitamins, and short-chain fatty acids such as acetic acid and butyric acid. In recent years, the fields of metagenomics and metabolomics have advanced dramatically, broadening our understanding of the role of microbes and the metabolites they produce on human health. As the full importance of the gut microbiome is uncovered, and we learn more about the active metabolites generated by the microbiome, the role of these postbiotic metabolites is attracting greater attention. In particular, the discovery that novel bioactive fatty-acid metabolites may have health-promoting effects has generated much discussion. Our expert speakers will describe the importance of the human gut microbiome and its postbiotic metabolites, and will illustrate the beneficial effects of postbiotics on the host, focusing mainly on fatty-acid metabolites.



During the webinar, viewers will:

Be introduced to gut microbiome–derived postbiotics and their potential benefits

Hear about research into the generation of specific postbiotic fatty acids by enterobacteria and the metabolic pathways involved in postbiotics production

Learn about the health-promoting effects of postbiotics—particularly fatty-acid metabolites—on the host

Have the opportunity to have their questions answered during the live broadcast!

This webinar will last for approximately 60 minutes.

Speaker bios

Jun Ogawa, Ph.D. Kyoto University

Kyoto, Japan Since 2009, Dr. Ogawa has been a professor in the Graduate School of Agriculture at Kyoto University in Japan, where he also obtained his Ph.D. in 1992. He joined the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science in 1994 as an assistant fellow. He became an assistant professor in the Faculty of Agriculture at Kyoto University in 1995, moving to Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (the National Institute of Agricultural Research) in France as a visiting scholar in 2006 before rejoining Kyoto University in 2008 as a professor in the Research Division of Microbial Sciences. Dr. Ogawa’s research covers applied microbiology, microbial biochemistry, microbial physiology, fermentation physiology, enzyme engineering, environmental microbiology, and microbial molecular biology. His work focuses on identification and characterization of novel microbial functions.

Jun Kunisawa, Ph.D. National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition

Osaka, Japan Dr. Kunisawa is the head of the Laboratory of Vaccine Materials and the Laboratory of Gut Environmental Systems at the National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition (NIBIOHN) in Osaka, Japan. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Osaka University and is a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo, Kobe University, and Hiroshima University. He was awarded his Ph.D. from the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Osaka University at 2001. Following postdoctoral training at the University of California, Berkeley, he was recruited by the University of Tokyo in 2004. He spent nine years in Tokyo as assistant and associate professor before moving to NIBIOHN to establish a new laboratory. His research focuses on immune regulation by the gut environment (including nutrition and commensal bacteria) and its association with immune diseases and human health. He also performs translational research for the development of vaccines, medicines, and functional foods.

Ikuo Kimura, Ph.D. Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology

Fuchu, Japan Since 2013, Dr. Kimura has been an associate professor in the Department of Applied Biological Science at the Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. He obtained his B.S. from the Kyoto University School of Pharmacy in 2001 and his Ph.D. from the Graduate School and Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Kyoto University in 2006. He held assistant professorships in the Laboratory of Applied Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy in the Chiba Institute of Science, and in the Department of Genomic Drug Discovery Science, Kyoto University Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences. In 2011, he joined the Department of Reproductive Medicine in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego as a visiting scholar. Dr. Kimura’s research focuses on the relationship between gut microbes and host energy regulation via diet, specifically how dietary metabolites may exert beneficial effects by improving the intestinal environment. His work aims to explore novel functional food materials by initiating cross-disciplinary efforts with professionals in fermentology and applied microbiology.

Sean Sanders, Ph.D. Science/AAAS

Washington, DC Dr. Sanders did his undergraduate training at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge, UK, supported by the Wellcome Trust. Following postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health and Georgetown University, Dr. Sanders joined TranXenoGen, a startup biotechnology company in Massachusetts working on avian transgenics. Pursuing his parallel passion for writing and editing, Dr. Sanders joined BioTechniques as an editor, before joining Science/AAAS in 2006. Currently, Dr. Sanders is the Director and Senior Editor for Custom Publishing for the journal Science and Program Director for Outreach.

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