March 13th at Northeastern University Seattle | Dr. Sid Venkatesh, Assistant Professor, Institute for Systems Biology (ISB)

“The Gut Microbiome and New Therapeutic Foods for Childhood Undernutrition”

What if combating childhood malnutrition isn’t just about food insecurity — but also about the microbes living in their intestines?
For decades, gut‑microbiome research has revealed tantalizing correlations but hasn't explained why certain bacteria matter. In this Discovery Lecture, Sid Venkatesh will discuss how researchers built “defined” communities of gut microbes and used germ‑free animal models to test the effects of adding or excluding specific bacterial strains. By combining these approaches with gene‑expression profiling, mass spectrometry, and biochemical analysis, researchers are uncovering cause‑and‑effect relationships.
 Sid's work has led to two major breakthroughs:
- the development of a microbiota‑directed therapeutic food, already reaching 20,000 malnourished children around the world, and
- the discovery of a gut microbial enzyme that activates hunger‑related pathways in malnourished children.
This Lecture will illustrate how mechanistic insights from the microbiome can translate into solutions with global public health impact.

Agenda -

11:30 am to 12 pm - lunch

12 pm to 12:40 pm - presentation

12:40 pm to 1 pm - audience Q&A

Register on Luma: Discovery Series, Dr. Sid Venkatesh, Assistant Professor, Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) · Luma