Microbiome: How Commensal Bacteria Can Be Our Friends

Join us at Genspace (http://www.genspace.org/) for another lecture presented as part of the Know Science (http://knowscience.org/) series. Know Science is an international education and advocacy organization working to promote knowledge of science and scientific research to a non-specialized audience.

Most people associate the word "bacteria" with disease, but we have ten times more bacteria than human cells in our body. Why do we have these bacteria?

It is known as commensalism when one organism benefits from another without affecting it. In this case, the human organism is benefitting from bacteria. These commensal bacteria help us develop our immune system, digest and absorb food, and even prevent the colonization of otherpathogenic bacteria, or bacteria that cause disease.

However, imbalances in the populations of commensal bacteria are associated with several diseases, particularly inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD. Dr. Deepshika Ramanan's work as a graduate student has focused on identifying these imbalances, and possible therapeutic options to prevent them.

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Deepshika Ramanan is a graduate student at New York University. She received her B.Sc. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Winona State University in 2008. During the summer of 2007, she was awarded a fellowship to perform undergraduate research at the Mayo Clinic in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Bram where she was introduced to immunology. To prepare for a career in science, she worked as a research technician in the laboratory of Dr. Edwin Chapman from 2008-2010, and then enrolled in the NYU School of Medicine Sackler Immunology and Inflammation Ph.D. program.