OBI Public Talk: Exploring the Brain-Gut Axis

Your diet has a profound impact on brain function. This OBI Public Talk, the first in the 2025-26 Breakthroughs in Brain Health series, will look at the influence gut microbiomes have on neuroinflammation, neurodevelopment, and neurodegeneration, among other aspects of brain function.

REGISTER FOR IN-PERSON | SIGN UP FOR THE LIVESTREAM

Panelists:

• Dr. Premysl Bercik is an associate professor in the Department of Medicine and member of the Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute at McMaster University. His clinical interest lies in functional bowel disorders, intestinal dysmotility, gastroparesis and celiac disease. His basic research focuses on the role of intestinal bacteria in gut-brain axis in the context of gut function, low-grade inflammation and behavior, including anxiety and depression.
  
  
• Dr. Valerie Taylor is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Calgary. Prior to this, she was the chief of Psychiatry at Women’s College Hospital and the chief of Adult Health Services at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health. Her academic focus has been on the area of medical psychiatry, with a focus on biomarkers and an interest in the gut-brain axis and the area of the gut microbiome She is also CEO of Taylored Biotherapeutics, a drug discovery start-up.
  
  
• Dr. Chao Wang is an assistant professor and scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute. As the Canada Research Chair in Immunometabolism of Neuroinflammation, she looks at the dynamic role of the immune system in the progression of neurological disorders such as neurodegeneration and major depression. She also focuses on understanding the regulation of immune cells in the central nervous system at steady state and during neuroinflammation in such contexts.

Moderated by: Olivia Ghosh-Swaby, a Vanier Canada Doctoral Scholar in Neuroscience at Western University dedicated to understanding the mechanisms governing memory and learning in obesity and aging.

> Learn more about the Breakthroughs in Brain Health series