MicroPredictome

02/27/2020

Thank you to everyone who came by our booth at the McGill Startup Fair yesterday, it was great to meet you all !

01/13/2020

MicroPredictome will be presenting at the next AI For Health Meet-up!

Come join us on January 28th to learn more about Stoolinformatics and some of the other initiatives within the community.

See you there!

Tue, Jan 28, 2020, 5:00 PM: This month, two prominent AI in Health startups will be discussing what they’re working on, how they use AI, how they see it impacting their respective fields, and some of

11/27/2019

Catch us at Techstars Montreal Demoday, December 4th!

11/18/2019

We had a great time at the Meeting of the Minds, Crohn's and Colitis Canada event this past weekend in Toronto.

It was great to learn about the current state of IBD treatment and the future directions the field will pursue.

MicroPredictome looks forward to continuing conversations with all the physicians and activists we met during our stay!

11/14/2019

Today, we're working on generating the reports from our technical validation study.

We're hoping to send them out by the end of the weekend, so stay tuned!

11/13/2019

The data is in!

Thank you once again to everyone who participated in our study. We will be working to generate personalized microbiome profiles for all of you in the coming days!

11/12/2019

Podcasts are a great way to learn about science!

This week, we thought we should share some of our favorite microbiome podcast episodes with you.

You can find the podcast “The Second Genome” by James Gallagher, a journalist for the BBC who focuses on health and science, along with a link to an article he wrote on the same topic.

Happy listening!

Link to Podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b09yddx5
Link to Article: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-43674270

James Gallagher explores how our second genome is driving our metabolism and health.

11/07/2019

How does urbanization affect our microbiota?

The multitude of microorganisms that live both on and in our bodies have co-evolved with us. But as our environment is altered more and more through urbanization, we have to wonder how these changes affect our resident microorganisms.

Recent research published in Nature Microbiology looks at how bacteria in houses and their residents change through urbanization by sampling a multitude of locations (more details in the links below). They looked at different locations that follow an urbanization gradient in the Amazon – from least urban (jungle) to most urban (Manaus, Brazil).

Find out more in the links below!

Link: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191104112904.htm

Original Article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-019-0593-4

Researchers found city homes to be rife with industrial chemicals, cleaning agents and fungi that love warm, dark surfaces, while jungle huts had fresher air, more sunlight and natural materials with which humans evolved.

11/05/2019

Different cells interact in the gut and, depending on various factors like diet, genetics, medication, and infection, just to name a few, these interactions can lead to inflammation. But what does this actually look like? (First link)

Typically, scientists condense months to years of research into a simple flat cartoon. This is mostly because of time constraints and the lack of know-how when it comes to animation. But some scientists want to move beyond these 2D cartoons into 3D animations (Second link).

If you’re curious about scientific animations and want to play around with some software, check out the open-source software mentioned in the TED talk below.

Immunology in the Gut Mucosa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnZEge78_78

Animations in Science: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvyeI-Axb70 (Note: the title should be “How animations can help scientists VISUALIZE a hypothesis”)

Software Used: https://molecularflipbook.org/

The gut mucosa hosts the body's largest population of immune cells. Nature Immunology in collaboration with Arkitek Studios have produced an animation unrave...

10/31/2019

It’s quite fitting to talk about fear (and the microbiome) on the day of Halloween.

The gut-brain axis is a hot topic in microbiome research at the moment. Researchers are trying to decipher how disruptions of the microbiota change signaling in the brain.

Follow the link below to find out how disruptions of the microbiota can alter brain function and metabolite levels in fear-conditioned mice.

Happy Halloween!

Link: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2221022-gut-microbes-help-mice-overcome-their-fears-by-changing-brain-activity/ (Search “microbiota fear” to learn even more)
Original Article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1644-y

Mice without healthy gut bacteria have a hard time moving on from fearful situations, adding to evidence that the microbiome influences how the mammalian brain works