Nature Café:
Modulating the Microbiome
to Treat Disease                                      
                                                                        

Pr. Yasmine Belkaid is the President of the Institut Pasteur (Paris) and the head of the Metaorganism Immunity laboratory at the Institut Pasteur. She obtained her Master in Biochemistry at the University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene in Algiers, Algeria and her PhD from the Institut Pasteur in France. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of health (Bethesda) on immune regulation during infection, she started her research program at the Children’s Hospital Research Foundation in Cincinnati. In 2005, she joined the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) where she served as department chair of the Laboratory of Host Immunity and Microbiome, Director of the trans-NIH Center for Human immunology and founder and Director of the NIAID Microbiome program prior to joining the Institut Pasteur in 2024.

Her work explores fundamental mechanisms that regulate tissue homeostasis and host immune responses and uncovered key roles for the microbiota and dietary factors in the control of immunity and protection to pathogens. Her work also explores the role of the immune system in organismal remodeling and the impact of infections on maternal child DYAD. Dr Belkaid is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine and recipient of numerous awards including the Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences, the Emil von Behring Prize, the Sanofi-Institut Pasteur Award, the Robert Koch Award and the AAI Excellence in Mentoring Award.

Dr. Purna Kashyap is practicing gastroenterologist and Professor of Medicine and Physiology, the Bernard and Edith Waterman Director of the Microbiome program, and Director of the germ-free mouse facility in the Center for Individualized Medicine at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. The NIH funded Gut Microbiome laboratory led by Dr. Kashyap is focused on delineating the complex interactions between diet, gut microbiome, and host gastrointestinal physiology.  The laboratory uses germ-free mouse models in conjunction with measures of gastrointestinal physiology in vitro and in vivo to investigate effects of gut microbial products on host gastrointestinal function. In parallel, they use a systems approach incorporating multi-omics, patient metadata, and physiologic tissue responses in human studies, to aid in discovery of novel microbial drivers of disease.

The overall goal of the program is to develop novel microbiota-targeted therapies. Dr. Kashyap has published nearly 100 peer reviewed articles including journals like Cell, Cell Host Microbe, Science Translational Medicine, Nature Communications, and Gastroenterology. He was inducted to American Society of Clinical Investigation in 2021. He has previously served on the scientific advisory board of American Gastroenterology Association Gut Microbiome Center, and on the council of American Neurogastroenterology and Motility Society. He now serves on the council and the research committee of AGA, in an editorial role for Gut Microbes and as an ad hoc reviewer on NIH study sections.

Kenya Honda, M.D., Ph.D., is a professor at Keio University School of Medicine and a Team Leader at RIKEN IMS. His research focuses on the interplay between the human host and endogenous microbiota. His group has made key contributions to understanding not only which microorganisms contribute to disease and how, but also which microorganisms are considered beneficial and could be used for treatment of disease. Notable achievements include identifying microbiota members that induce TH17 cells, Treg cells, TH1 cells, and CD8 T cells, as well as bile acid metabolizing microbes unique to centenarians.

He has been recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics from 2014 to 2023 and was awarded the Carlos J. Finlay UNESCO Prize for Microbiology in 2020. He is a scientific co-founder of Vedanta Bioscience and a scientific advisor of 4Bio Capital. Additionally, he serves on the advisory boards of Gut Microbes, Cell Host & Microbe, Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology, and Current Opinion in Microbiology, and the Scientific Advisory Board of Science Translational Medicine.