ABSTRACT
Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled Microbiome: Therapeutic Implications,
organized by Drs. Justin L. Sonnenburg, Fergus Shanahan and Suzanne Devkota. The conference will be
held in Killarney, Ireland from October 6-10, 2019.
The microbial communities that inhabit the human body are connected to diverse aspects of our health. The
plasticity and individuality of these communities promise great potential in the emerging vision of precision
health, but formidable gaps to realizing this potential must be addressed. Critical challenges include the
intrinsic complexity of dynamic microbial ecosystems, understanding how these microbes mechanistically
connect to human biology, and identifying key therapeutic opportunities. This conference will bring together
leaders across a range of disciplines from both academia and industry in microbiome sciences to present
recent progress and innovative directions at addressing these gaps. This conference will provide a detailed
view of the current status, future vision, and challenges of key modalities for predicting, diagnosing, and
treating disease via the microbiome. In addition, there will be topics which augment the traditional biomedical
paradigm of developing diagnostics and treatments with orthogonal approaches, such as pre-therapeutic
prevention and health optimization strategies. Invited speakers will present key technologies and approaches
for propelling the coming phases of basic and translational microbiome research. Finally, participants will
receive key information about the current regulatory environment for microbial therapeutics. With the rapid
expansion of translational microbiome efforts, this conference will enable synergies through the aggregation of
knowledge and experiences from diverse body sites, disease states, and approaches. We combine facets of
basic sciences including evolution, ecology, and technology development so an interdisciplinary collection of
scientists can elucidate key steps for establishing a strong pipeline from fundamental understanding to
therapeutic realization.