Episode 028 - Dr Alan Walker - What’s next in the microbiome field?

The following is a conversation with Dr. Alan Walker, a senior lecturer at the Rowett Institute for Nutrition and Health at the University of Aberdeen.

Dr Walker has worked in the microbiome field for the last 20 years. Throughout this episode, he shared with us some of his insights into how the field has developed, and how new technologies have improved our understanding of the microbiome. We also spent a lot of time Having some fun debates about the pros and cons, some of the benefits associated with microbiome modulating therapy, and where some myths and misconceptions lie.

For the generalist who wants to learn more about the microbiome, I think this is an excellent episode. We also get pretty deep and pretty technical in some areas, like, for example, microbiome sequencing, next-generation probiotics, and whether the microbiome causes obesity or contributes to obesity. There are tons in here and we go right the way across the microbiome field talking about diagnostics, at-home microbiome testing, the use of faecal microbiota transplantation, and what is a healthy microbiome.

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of the listeners and supporters of the podcast for everything you've done to help us build the name, and the brand, and to get the message out there around microbiome being critically important and gut health being really important for wider body health.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:02:39 Microbiome research 30 years ago

00:05:17 Why is the microbiome important?

00:10:08 How does the microbiome develop?

00:12:52 Do we have a core microbiome?

00:14:51 What is a healthy microbiome?

00:20:22 Health and poor microbiome diversity

00:22:55 Technology shifts in microbiome research

00:31:13 Microbiome human database

00:33:54 AI helping us understand the microbiome?

00:38:27 Convincing others of the importance of the microbiome

00:40:18 Importance of fibre

00:45:27 Microbiome and obesity

00:49:31 How to improve microbiome

00:56:03 Probiotics

01:02:29 Differences in animal and human microbiome

01:04:00 Genetics and genomic diversity

01:05:38 Phabe bacteria

01:06:17 Where is the field going?

01:08:35 FMT

01:12:39 Processed foods