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This new Wellcome Trust Scientific Conference will bring together leading scientists from the fields of microbiology, ecology, immunology, gastroenterology and paediatrics to discuss the latest developments in this fast developing field.
Gut microflora play important roles in how we derive energy from our diet and how we store this energy. Recent studies have revealed the extraordinary complexity of the gut microbial ecology and its network connectivity to the metabolic regulation of important pathways in the host.
Microbiome abnormalities have been associated with many non-infectious diseases including inflammatory bowel conditions, colonic cancer, autoimmune diseases, diabetes and obesity and autism.  Gut microbial activity also plays an important role in drug metabolism and toxicity. Understanding the role of the microbiome will offer new insights into major disease processes and discovery of new therapeutic strategies that either target the microbiome directly or use this information in new stratified medicine approaches.

Abstract submission is strongly encouraged as a significant number of talks will be selected from abstracts. Abstract deadline: 12 March 2012

Sessions will include:

Development and diversity of the microbiome
The influence of the microbiome on disease
Metabolism intereactions
Modulating the microbiome (probiotics & prebiotics)
Functional metagenomics and integrated systems biology
Drugable therapies

 https://registration.hinxton.wellcome.ac.uk/display_info.asp?id=271

Invited Speakers include:

Willem de Vos, Wageningen. WU Agrotechnology & Food Sciences
Francisco Guarner, University Hospital Vall d’Hebron
Elaine Holmes, Imperial College London
Curtis Huttenhower , Harvard University
Sunil Kochhar, Nestle
Ruth Ley, Cornell University
Julian Marchesi, Cardiff University
Simon Murch, Warwick Medical School
Gregor Reid, Lawson Health Research Institute
Karen Scott, Rowett Research Institute
Fegus Shannahan, University College Cork
Douwe van Sinderen, University College Cork
Ian Wilson, AstraZeneca

Scientific Organisers:

Fredrik Bäckhed, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Jeremy Nicholson Imperial College London, UK
Glenn Gibson Reading University, UK