iodraken

And we started prohibition 10 years before the nation did!

Thank you for not going along with the “we’re all doomed and should just complain on the internet” crowd.

When it was still the old vice that did interesting pieces there was quit a team of journalists working. Any idea what the rest of them have been up to?

Hello, I did my undergrad in microbiology and am trying to decide where/what to do for my graduate education. I know you’ve already called it quits on this AMA but I hope you find this.

For some context, a human baby is born effectively sterile and that the majority of microbiome forming bacteria comes from breast milk and the home environment provided by the parents. Would you consider these “inherited” microbes to play a major role in obesity for a child?

Of course, lifestyle and diet are no doubt the core contributors for obesity, but there have been plenty of studies (at least in mice) confirming that microbial transplants have direct effects on metabolic function and resultant fat storage. I tried to keep this all very surface level; this topic really blooms when you start getting into specific in vivo bacteria populations and their direct role in various metabolic processes.

Thank you for responding! I guess I could have worded my question a bit better. In a traditional family unit, it would make sense for a child to have relatively similar gut flora to their parents. I’m interested in the degree that these microbes are passed on from parent to child, if the microbial populations maintain over time in the child, and what metabolic conditions can be attributed to the “hereditary” nature of gut flora. I need to read up on the current literature, but potentially some decades down the line, I believe that treatment to alter one’s microbiology could be useful in treating conditions such as IBS (as is already established with FMTs), obesity, and a host of other metabolic problems. If a hereditary-microbial factor is proven then these treatments could even help an individuals children and persist for generations. These concepts were taught to me over the last 2 years as relatively new and emerging advancements to the field, I am unaware to why degree this has already been researched.

I’m currently working in a medical diagnostic lab for a hospital in the United States, but am hoping to start applying for graduate programs for the fall of 2021. I hadn’t considered schools abroad but I’ll keep Birmingham in mind!