PhD students participating in August Krogh seminars receive 0,2 ECTS per seminar
AKC seminar: The human microbiota – Friend or foe?
August Krogh Seminar
Professor Karsten Kristiansen
Laboratory of Genomics and Molecular Biomedicine, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Institute of Metagenomics, BGI-Research, Shenzhen, China
Institute of Metagenomics, Qingdao-Europe Advanced Institute for Life Sciences, Qingdao, China.
Abstract
Monogenic diseases offer clear insight into the relation between the genome and diseases, but the importance of the host genome in relation to more complex multifactorial diseases has proven more difficult to establish.
During the last decades, it has become well established that commensal bacteria extensively colonize external as well as internal surfaces of the human body, and play important roles in relation to metabolism and immune functions.
Furthermore, evidence has been presented that the gut microbiota may also affect behavior. However, the exact molecular mechanisms by which bacteria in exert their actions remain elusive.
In this lecture, I will summarize recent work from Copenhagen, Shenzhen, and Qingdao demonstrating how distinct changes in the gut and oral microbiota are associated several multifactorial diseases, and how we now by using multi-omics approaches are able to establish causality. I will conclude the lecture by summarizing our recent work linking the gut microbiota to schizophrenia and bipolar depression.
Research Profile
Karsten Kristiansen is Professor of Molecular Biology and heads the Laboratory of Genomics and Molecular Biomedicine at the Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen. He is also Professor and Director at the Institute of Metagenomics BGI-Research, Shenzhen, China and the Institute of Metagenomics, Qingdao-Europe Advanced Institute for Life Sciences, Qingdao, China.
After graduation from the University of Copenhagen, he held research positions at the Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Genetik in Berlin and at the Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, Fondation Edmond de Rothschild, in Paris.
He was head of Department of Molecular Biology, later Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, 1992-2008, before he was recruited as professor and Head of the Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen in 2008. Since 2015 he has shared his time between University of Copenhagen and his institutes in Qingdao and Shenzhen, China.
Central themes of the research of Professor Kristiansen concern the interaction between the host genome, the host immune system and the gut microbiota in regulating gut health and energy metabolism, and how interaction between different nutrients modulates energy homeostasis.
In addition, his research groups now explore the interaction between the gut microbiota and the brain. Recently, he has initiated work to isolate communities of soil-borne bacteria to be used as bio-pesticides.
For these projects, his research groups use a combination of molecular biology approaches, animal and plant studies, metagenomics and genomics. He has published more than 450 articles in refereed journals, many of which in high ranking journals such as Science, Nature, and Cell, and he is a WoS Clarivate highly cited researcher.
Time
26 January 2024
14:00-15:00: Seminar and discussion
15:00-16:00: Post seminar servings and socializing
Venue
Auditorium 1, August Krogh Building, Universitetsparken 13, DK-2100 Copenhagen
Registration
Participation is free, but please register here.
For PhD students
PhD students participating in August Krogh seminars receive 0,2 ECTS per seminar
Contact
Kate Aiko Wickham, kawi@nexs.ku.dk
