“The Role of Microbiome in Food Animal Health” - An Animal Health and Nutrition Forum

The gut microbiome is an active microbial community that confers health benefits to its host by aiding in the digestion and absorption of nutrients, construction of the intestinal epithelial barrier, the development of the host immune system and competing with pathogenic bacteria to prevent their colonization and spread. This system can be manipulated by nutrition, infection, medication, etc.  Increasing understanding and control of this system are enabling more effective regulation of gut health and integrity.  The first AH&N EG forum will discuss these aspects in greater depth.

Speakers:

Casey Theriot, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in infectious diseases at the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Theriot received her B.S. from the University of Georgia, her Ph.D. from NCSU and did postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan Medical School. Her current research focuses on manipulating the gut microbiota to rationally alter the composition of the bile acid pool in the gut, and restore microbial competition, which has the potential to improve preventative and therapeutic approaches against many human diseases. She has partnered with multiple companies in RTP to test the efficacy of new therapeutics against C. difficile in vitro and in the mouse model.

Anne Ballou is the research and development scientist at Premex Innovation Labs in Durham. Premex is a Columbian animal nutrition company, headquartered in Medellin. At Premex, Ballou is investigating how health can be improved through the gastrointestinal system. She is using microbiology, immunology, GI physiology and bioinformatics to approach food animal health issues from unique angles. She obtained a B.S. in animal sciences and an M.S. in animal nutrition form the University of Kentucky and a Ph.D. in functional genomics from NCSU.