Speakers
Fredrik Bäckhed
Professor
University of Gothenburg
Fredrik Bäckhed is professor of molecular medicine and has a PhD in infectious biology from Karolinska Institutet. He undertook post-doctoral training with Jeffrey Gordon at Washington University, St Louis, where he discovered that the gut microbiota can affect energy metabolism and contribute to the regulation of fat storage and obesity.
Fredrik Bäckhed and his research group combine clinically oriented research with gnotobiotic mouse models to understand the role of the gut microbiota in health and metabolic diseases.
During his postdoctoral training in Jeffrey Gordon's group at Washington University, St Louis, Fredrik Bäckhed identified the gut microbiota as a factor that controls fat storage in the host. At the Wallenberg Laboratory for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research, his group focuses on improving our understanding of how the gut microbiota contributes to cardiometabolic diseases. His studies have shown, for example, that the gut microbiota is altered in individuals with prediabetes and untreated type 2 diabetes. His research also aims to identify "next generation" probiotics aimed at preventing the onset of metabolic diseases.
One goal is to use the knowledge gained to develop new microbiota-based therapies. A key finding towards this goal was the group’s identification of microbial metabolites as potential regulators of cardiometabolic diseases. Fredrik Bäckhed recently received the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant to translate this discovery into treatment. The idea is to prevent bacterial production of a metabolite that contributes to fibrosis in the heart, liver and other organs, and thereby reduce the risk of heart failure and the liver disease metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH, previously NASH).
Fredrik Bäckhed and his research group combine clinically oriented research with gnotobiotic mouse models to understand the role of the gut microbiota in health and metabolic diseases.
During his postdoctoral training in Jeffrey Gordon's group at Washington University, St Louis, Fredrik Bäckhed identified the gut microbiota as a factor that controls fat storage in the host. At the Wallenberg Laboratory for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research, his group focuses on improving our understanding of how the gut microbiota contributes to cardiometabolic diseases. His studies have shown, for example, that the gut microbiota is altered in individuals with prediabetes and untreated type 2 diabetes. His research also aims to identify "next generation" probiotics aimed at preventing the onset of metabolic diseases.
One goal is to use the knowledge gained to develop new microbiota-based therapies. A key finding towards this goal was the group’s identification of microbial metabolites as potential regulators of cardiometabolic diseases. Fredrik Bäckhed recently received the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant to translate this discovery into treatment. The idea is to prevent bacterial production of a metabolite that contributes to fibrosis in the heart, liver and other organs, and thereby reduce the risk of heart failure and the liver disease metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH, previously NASH).
