Invited speakers

• Session 'Microbiota & Development': Tobias Engl (Mainz, Germany)

Tobias Engl is a group leader in the lab of Martin Kaltenpoth at the Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany. He studies insect symbiosis, in grain pest beetles and beewolves. His studies focus on how insect and their symbionts interact with the biotic and abiotic environment during vulnerable developmental life stages (e.g., cuticle synthesis and desiccation), from an eco-evolutionary perspective. He addresses these questions through combined chemical, molecular and ecological approaches.

• Session 'Pathobiome & Host Responses': Estelle Grasset (Göteborg, Sweden)

Estelle Grasset is a post-doc in Fredrik Bäckhed's group at the Wallenberg Laboratory in Gothenburg (Sweden), working on microbiota, autonomic nervous system and metabolism. During her PhD, she studied the interaction between nervous system and gut microbiota to better treat type 2 diabetes. Her studies showed that a dysbiotic microbiota may be one of the causes of diabetic nerve damage and the loss of neural glucose detection. She is now exploring how the gut microbiota could modulate the enteric nervous system (ENS) function and maturation. 

• Session 'Microbiota, Ecology & Evolution': Laure Segurel (Paris, France)

Laure Ségurel is a researcher in genetic anthropology at the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) and University Paris Diderot (Paris7). Her research interests focus on how human population adapt to their environment, especially how they evolve genetically in response to their diet. To do so, she studies human genomic diversity and tries to detect natural selection signatures. She is also interested in the evolutionary changes of gut microbiota, in particular in non-industrial populations, to understand the intimate relationship between humans and their bacteria.