Last month, the ABC aired The Gut Revolution: A Catalyst Special, a 2-part documentary about the role of the gut microbiome in two common conditions: irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and obesity. Hosted by a lively nutrition scientist, Joanna McMillan, and joined by a team of three experts who developed gut-microbiota-targeted interventions for 26-year-old Melissa and 41-year-old Garry. One of those three experts was Professor Felice Jacka - director of Deakin University’s Food & Mood Centre, where I am starting a post-doc fellowship this week*!
There was plenty of public interest in the show, as there is about the gut microbiome in general. To provide a bit more information about the science behind the show, I wrote an article about the first episode, accompanied by one about the second penned by one of my new colleagues, Meg Hockey, an Accredited Practising Dietician and PhD candidate. You can find our review and extender articles here (Part 1: IBS) and here (Part 2: Obesity).
* It has been a busy few months in the making, but I am super excited to be taking up a post-doctoral fellowship at Deakin University's Food and Mood Centre. It is a fantastic, multidisciplinary hub of talented and motivated researchers focussing on various aspects of the field of nutritional psychiatry - the intersection between diet and mental health. I’ll be focussing on the microbiome projects at the Centre, including my existing studies about baby poo and child behaviour, and (at the other end of life) how the gut microbiome might be involved in Alzheimer’s disease risk. Stay tuned!