Episode 148: The Mysteries of the Maternal Microbiome

This week, Jonathan is joined by Laura Sycuro, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to explore the microbiome, providing insights into what it means and how it affects mother and child. The pair discuss the interaction between human microbiota and disease, microbial imbalances and how to correct them, and how microbial transmission from mothers impacts the lifelong health of their children. They further dive into the vaginal microbiome and chorioamniotic infection in pre-term labour.  

Use the following timestamps to navigate the content discussed in this episode: 

(00:00)-Introduction 

(02:16)-Research on bobtail squid at the University of Hawaii, USA 

(05:48)-Defining the microbiome 

(10:56)-Understanding the microbiome 

(11:46)-Research into the maternal microbiome, and when bacterial colonisation begins for the infant 

(16:42)-Microbiome and the gut–brain axis 

(20:00)-Key messages from Sycuro’s work investigating genetic and genomic approaches to understanding interaction between human microbiome and disease 

(22:58)-The vaginal microbiome in other species 

(25:09)-Chorioamniotic infection in pre-term labour 

(29:16)-Metagenomics: detecting and assembling genomes of uncultivated species and strains 

(32:45)-Emerging areas of research, and Sycuro’s personal focus in future 

(36:03)-Three wishes for the future of healthcare