Podcast: What’s Up Bainbridge
Open Mic Science at the Treehouse March 8: UW Professor Elhanan Borenstein on the Microbial Zoo

<i>Podcast: What’s Up Bainbridge </i><br>Open Mic Science at the Treehouse March 8: UW Professor Elhanan Borenstein on the Microbial Zoo

Professor Elhanan Borenstein, University of Washington Associate Professor of Genome Sciences, will speak at the next Open Mic Science Night; Tuesday, March 7, 8 pm at the Treehouse Café. The title of his talk is “”Meet your inner microbial zoo: A genomic tour of your micro-biome.”

In this What’s Up episode, BCB host Sonia Scaer talks with Professor Borenstein about his research.  He and his colleagues study the human microbiome and have developed sophisticated computational methods for analyzing microbiome data.

UW Professor Elhanan Borenstein

Microbial species are a complex, highly diversified and largely uncharted communities. Each of us has a “normal” microbiome, containing a thousand different species of microorganisms. When an imbalance occurs  in our microbiome, it can lead to health problems. Because we can now manipulate the microbiome, we can affect human health.

Professor Borenstein explains that it’s not enough to know what species are interacting with one another, and whether they are good or bad ones. Computational analysis is used to discover relationships within the complex system.

In his talk at Open Mic Science, he will be discussing some of the new technologies used to understand the profiles of the microorganisms and how they interact with each other; research that has the potential to impact the treatment of human diseases.

This is a fascinating field and sure to pique your interest on how your own microbiome affects your health.

Credits: BCB host: Sonia Scaer; BCB tech Barry Peters; BCB audio editor and social media publisher: Diane Walker.


BCB's What's Up show is underwritten by Windermere Bainbridge
BCB’s What’s Up show is underwritten by Windermere Bainbridge