2025 Microbiome Conference Agenda

7:45 AM

8:25 AM

Mollie Roth, JD, Chairperson, The Annual Translational Microbiome Conference

Successful microbiome-based therapeutics requires stable engraftment of transplanted beneficial bacteria into recipient’s intestinal tract. The host factors that determine successful engraftment are poorly defined. This presentation will discuss how the transplant recipient’s immune status at the time of transplantation dictates the outcome of microbiome-based intervention. We have established a fecal microbiota transplantation - Clostridioides difficile infection platform to probe how the immune system supports microbiome transplantation. Using this approach, we have identified key immune signaling pathways and cellular targets that are critical for transplant success and can be therapeutically manipulated to convert a non-responsive recipient into a responder. These findings demonstrate that the host’s immune status can be targeted to improve efficacy of microbiome-based therapeutic approaches.
Michael Abt, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania

9:00 AM

The gut microbiome is transforming predictive healthcare, offering innovative tools for diagnostics and treatment guidance. This talk will highlight our research group’s recent work in this area. First, I will introduce the Gut Microbiome Wellness Index 2 (GMWI2), a global health indicator capable of distinguishing healthy from diseased individuals, and discuss how GMWI2 provides actionable insights into diet and microbiota transplantation. Next, I will explore how gut microbiome profiles predict clinical improvement in disease activity and response to methotrexate in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). From health assessment tools like GMWI2 to RA treatment biomarkers, this work demonstrates the potential of integrating microbiome insights into clinical practice for personalized and precision medicine.
Jaeyun Sung, Ph.D. , Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Mayo Clinic

9:30 AM

Cognitive disorders like mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are a growing global challenge, with the role of gut microbiota in cognitive health increasingly recognized. This proof-of-concept observational study investigates microbiome composition and function across a spectrum of cognitive function: healthy controls, MCI, and early AD. Using advanced sequencing and bioinformatics workflows, the study examines microbiome profiles and their correlations with cognitive assessments, functional performance, and lifestyle modifications. Preliminary findings provide insights into the microbiome’s potential as a biomarker and therapeutic target in cognitive health.
Leigh Frame, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Office of Integrative Medicine and Health, Associate Professor of Clinical Research and Leadership, George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences

10:00 AM

Reproductive factors and exogenous hormone use are recognized as well-established risk factors for breast cancer, with the hormonal mechanism considered as the key underlying mechanism. Recently, a prevailing hypothesis has suggested that the gut microbial mediation role is crucial, given its involvement in hormonal regulation. However, no one has systematically examined the association between reproductive/hormone risk factors and gut microbiome features from large epidemiological studies based on the shotgun metagenome sequencing data. Our study is the first and largest to date to systematically reveal the associations between breast cancer risk reproductive factors and gut microbiome in the general population.
Tengteng Wang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

10:30 AM

11:00 AM

One of the take-home messages from the last 20 years of medical research has been the important role the gut microbiome plays in chronic disease pathogenesis. Despite this, current treatments for conditions like chronic lung diseases, such as COPD, are still mostly focused on managing symptoms. People living with these conditions hope for more than symptom relief—they want to regain their health. This goal is often made harder by co-morbidities and the burden of simultaneous multiple medications and their associated side-effects. This talk will focus on a microbiome-targeted approach that has the potential to change the way we treat chronic diseases by: Treating co-morbidities at the same time by addressing shared underlying pathways. Offering pristine safety profiles compatible with standards of care and individual therapeutics. Modifying disease progression to restore health and reduce long-term reliance on medications. The Gut-Everything Axis provides a practical and science-based opportunity to approach chronic diseases in a way that targets root causes and helps people achieve better health.
Scott Parkinson, Ph.D., Co-Founder, Aqabela

11:30 AM

12:00 PM

1:00 PM

1:30 PM

The gut microbial composition can be influenced by drugs but also the gut microbiome can influence a patient’s response to a drug. Microbes have been shown to alter a drug’s molecular structure, thus modulating its bioavailability, bioactivity or toxicity. Understanding how the human microbiota metabolizes drugs provides us with the unique opportunity to modulate the gut microbiome composition that, in turn, results in improved treatment efficacy. We have built a capability to predict the bacteria-mediated oxidation of oral dose chemotherapy drug compounds and change the abundance of drug metabolites in vitro. Metabolite modulation ultimately impacts the therapeutically useful pathways and patient responsiveness to the therapy. We have demonstrated this modulation capability in several oral dose compounds and can metabolize the drug to its primary oxidative intermediate, solely by modulating the microbes of the human gut. This enables the possibility to modulate the oxidative product by altering the gut microbiome, which enables downstream modulation of bioavailability, bioactivity and off-target toxicity.
Andrew Bartko, Ph.D., Professor of Practice, Executive Director for the Center for Microbiome Innovation, Professor of Practice, Pediatrics , UC San Diego

2:00 PM

The small intestine plays a critical role in human health but remains largely unexplored due to sampling limitations. Microvitality’s ingestible capsule technology enables non-invasive, comprehensive microbiome sampling, providing researchers and biotech companies with the tools to collect high-quality, uncontaminated data to advance microbiome therapeutics and precision medicine. By reducing variability and unlocking new biomarkers, this approach has the potential to enhance patient stratification, treatment efficacy, and drug discovery. In our talk we will explore how accessing previously untapped microbiome data can drive breakthrough innovations in health and disease.
Sameer Sonkusale, Ph.D., Founding Member, Chief Scientific Advisor/Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Microvitality/Tufts University

Caroline Anderson, Scientific Contributor/Microbiology Ph.D. Candidate, Microvitality/MIT

2:30 PM

Since the late 1800s, it's been known that most humans (and nearly all other mammals) possess gut bacteria which convert biliary cholesterol into an insoluble metabolite called coprostanol, allowing it to be excreted in stool. However, only a select few kinds of microbe can perform this conversion, and their fastidious nature has hindered research on them: the first coprostanol-producing microbe was only isolated in 1973, and to date, the only coprostanol-producing organism in public strain banks is one that originated in a "hog sewage lagoon". In this presentation, attendees will get the first look at the human gut's native coprostanol producer, a previously uncultivated genus with some truly remarkable properties--and huge implications for human health.
Stephen V. Skolnick, Founder, Constellation Bio

3:00 PM