The Hidden Role of Archaea in the Gut Microbiome | Duncan Sutherland | TEDxEcublens

NOTE FROM TED: This talk only represents the speaker's personal views and interpretation of M. smithii, the gut microbiome, and health. Research discussed in this talk remains an ongoing field of study. We've flagged this talk because it falls outside the content guidelines TED gives TEDx organizers. TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: http://storage.ted.com/tedx/manuals/t...

This talk explores the foundation layer of the human microbiome that was ‘invisible’ until recently - the hidden Archaea Kingdom living next to bacteria in the human gut.
Archaea may be one of the most promising leads to emerge after 20 years of microbiome science. Nurturing the archaea foundation layer has the potential to improve health outcomes throughout life, and may well be the new frontier in human health. An Intestinal Immunologist at the EPFL, Duncan Sutherland has held research fellowships at the John Curtin School of Medical Research in Australia and RIKEN Research Centre for Allergy and Immunology in Japan. Over the past 10 years, Dr. Sutherland investigated the role of archaea in mucosal health through three research pillars:

1) New analytic tools to better detect archaea in human samples
2) Cultivating ‘hard to grow’ archaea isolated from the human microbiome
3) Biological models to uncover archaea’s role in the human immune system

Archaea are microbes residing in the human gut that were neglected due to missing research methodology. Dr Sutherland collaborates with a network of scientists and clinicians internationally. Recently, Dr. Sutherland founded the EPFL-spinoff Arkaiya SA, a platform to screen and cultivate archaea strains from human populations. Dr Sutherland proposes a paradigm shift in intestinal immunology to harness archaea for human health. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx