Dean’s Seminar Series featuring Barbara Rehermann, MD – “Natural versus Laboratory World: Wild Mouse Microbiota in Preclinical Models of Inflammation and Metabolism”

Dean’s Seminar Series

Barbara Rehermann, MD
Chief, Immunology Section
Liver Diseases Branch, NIDDK
National Institutes of Health

Title & Abstract:

“Natural versus Laboratory World: Wild Mouse Microbiota in Preclinical Models of Inflammation and Metabolism”

Laboratory mice are paramount for understanding basic biological phenomena but also have limitations in preclinical studies. Based on the concept that natural microbiota co-evolved with their respective hosts under evolutionary pressure of common environmental immune stimuli, Dr. Rehermann will describe mouse models, developed in her laboratory at the NIH, that combine the natural microbiota with the tractable genetics of laboratory mice. Wild mouse microbiota increase the predictive utility of immunological preclinical studies and conferred a unique metabolic phenotype that, if established in early life, protects against diet-induced obesity.