Dr Katerina Johnson
A Gut Feeling About Poo
Discussing the future of faecal microbiota transplants i.e. poo transplants (or ‘transpoosions’ as they’re known in the field). There’s now evidence that poo transplants could help to treat obesity, autism and even depression, so will they be taking the stage in our future healthcare?
Dr Katerina Johnson is a biologist and science communicator from the University of Oxford. Her PhD was on the science of that “gut feeling”, investigating how the community of microorganisms living in the gut, known as the gut microbiome, can affect the brain and behaviour. She enjoys engaging and informing both the public and the media… in fact, one of her mottos is “If you don’t think science is cool, you haven’t been taught it right!”
The idea that most microbes are harmless and even essential to health is just starting to percolate through to the general public but this field is developing so rapidly that it could soon be touching many people’s lives. She chose to speak at TEDxFolkestone since the theme this year is “A Reimagined Future” and she wanted the opportunity to talk about the role that the gut microbiome may play in our future healthcare and wellbeing.
In particular, she’s keen to discuss some of the captivating findings from studies involving poo transplants that demonstrate the power of our poo, but also to consider the possible perils and problems still ahead.