'Minding our microbial symbionts: interactions between the microbiome and nervous system in health and disease'

Denison University’s Biology Department and The Anderson Lecture Series welcomes Elaine Hsiao, assistant professor with the UCLA Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology, presenting a lecture “Minding our microbial symbionts: interactions between the microbiome and nervous system in health and disease.”

Hsiao is a neuroscientist and microbiologist who leads a laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles. She studies the microbes that live in and on humans to see how they influence human health. Hsiao earned her bachelor’s degree from UCLA and earned her Ph.D. from Caltech in the field of neurobiology. She was named as one of Forbes’ 30 under 30 in Science and Healthcare in 2014, and a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2015. 

A recent New York Times article noted: “Dr. Hsiao found that two types of gut bacteria, in particular, thrive in mice on a ketogenic diet. They may provide their hosts with building blocks for neurotransmitters that put a brake on electrical activity in the brain.”

She is hosted by the Biology Department.