SESSION 1: Beginner’s Guide to the Human Gut Microbiome

Moderator: Sabine Hazan, MD 

Microbiome 101 

Speaker: Neil Stollman, MD (UCSF / East Bay Center for Digestive Health)

Objective: Become familiar with the human gut microbiome and its role in health

Making sense of metagenomics

Speaker: Andreas Papoutsis, PhD (Progenabiome)

Objective: Understand methods used to study the composition and function of the gut microbiome

Disease associations (cause or consequence)?

Speaker: Sabine Hazan, MD (Progenabiome)

SESSION 2: Principals guiding research, regulation and product development

Moderator: Howard Young, PhD

Connecting the dots: how scientists elucidate mechanisms of microbial influence

Speaker: Howard Young, PhD (NIH)

Objective: Understand principals guiding investigations around human immune and gut microbial interactions 

Taming the Wild West: Developing Standards for Microbiome Research and Product Development

Speaker: Scott Jackson, PhD (NIST)

Objective: Describe the importance of standards for microbiome measurements to support research investigations and clinical/commercial translation of microbiome science.

Microbiome Based Therapeutics: Opportunities and Challenges

Speaker: Zain Kassam, MD (Finch)

Objective: Gain insight into how industry is working to develop treatment options and the complexities of trial design in this space. 

WORKING PRESENTATION: Microbiome Therapeutics: Thinking outside the box

Speaker: Thomas Borody, MD (CDD Australia)

SESSION 3: Clostridiodes difficile

Moderator: Neil Stollman, MD 

Evidence of efficacy and safety of FMT for C.difficile infection 

Speaker: Colleen Kelly, MD (Brown)

Objective: Review evidence from randomized controlled trials of FMT in C.difficile

Pharmacology of FMT

Speaker: Alexander Khoruts, MD (University of Minnesota) 

Objective: Describe mechanisms driving the therapeutic effects of FMT

Challenges Around Clinical Trials in C. difficile 

Speaker: Paul Feuerstadt, MD (Yale)

Objective: Describe unique challenges to conducting clinical trials of microbiome-based therapies in C.difficile 

SESSION 4: Expanding Applications of FMT

Moderator: Colleen Kelly, MD

Next Up: Manipulating the Microbiome to treat IBD 

Speaker: Jessica Allegretti, MD (Brigham and Womens, Harvard)

Objective: Review dysbiosis in inflammatory bowel disease and evidence from randomized controlled trials of FMT in the IBD population 

Microbiota and the Metabolic Syndrome: New Horizons and New Opportunities 

Speaker: Mazen Noureddin, MD (Cedars Sinai)

Objective: Describe the evidence for how gut microbes influence metabolism and drive features of the metabolic syndrome, including nonalcoholic steatohepatitis 

Implications of the Gut Microbiome in Cancer and Therapeutic Potential

Speaker: Yinghong Wang (MD Anderson Cancer Center)

Objective: Describe how gut microorganisms impact the metabolism of cancer therapies and how microbial manipulation may transform patient care

Bacteriotherapy to Fight Infection:  FMT in Chronic Urinary Tract Infections and MDROs

Speaker: Sahil Khanna, MD (Mayo Clinic)

Microbiota Transplant for Autism


Speaker: James B. Adams, PhD (Arizona State University)


Objective: Review Phase 1 clinical trial of microbiota transplant for children with Autism

Panel Discussions,  Announcements, and more!