Jack Gilbert
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Connection to Illinois: Dr. Gilbert is the Director of the Microbiome Center, a Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Chicago Medicine, Senior Scientist (Adjunct) at Marine Biological Laboratory, and Group Leader in Microbial Ecology at Argonne National Laboratory. Biography: Dr. Jack Gilbert PhD is a Professor of Surgery at the University of Chicago and Director of the Microbiome Institute. His research is focused on the ecology, evolution, and metabolic dynamics of microbial ecosystems from myriad environments including built environments, oceans, rivers, soils, air, plants, animals, and humans. His primary interest is in using omics technologies (metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metabolomics) to capture longitudinal dynamics in microbial ecosystems and then model how these interactions relate the environmental variables, be those variables disease onset and immunology in humans or chemical transformations in plants and soils. Gilbert is developing unifying principles which govern how microbial communities assemble. He founded the Earth Microbiome Project, and co-founded the American Gut Project, and is the editor-in-chief of the journal mSystems.
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Dirt Is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child's Developing Immune System ISBN: 1250132606 OCLC: 960238052 St. Martin's Press 2017 From two of the world’s top scientists and one of the world’s top science writers (all parents), Dirt Is Good is a q&a-based guide to everything you need to know about kids & germs. “Is it OK for my child to eat dirt?” That’s just one of the many questions authors Jack Gilbert and Rob Knight are bombarded with every week from parents all over the world. They've heard everything from “My two-year-old gets constant ear infections. Should I give her antibiotics? Or probiotics?” to “I heard that my son’s asthma was caused by a lack of microbial exposure. Is this true, and if so what can I do about it now?” Google these questions, and you’ll be overwhelmed with answers. The internet is rife with speculation and misinformation about the risks and benefits of what most parents think of as simply germs, but which scientists now call the microbiome: the combined activity of all the tiny organisms inside our bodies and the surrounding environment that have an enormous impact on our health and well-being. Who better to turn to for answers than Drs. Gilbert and Knight, two of the top scientists leading the investigation into the microbiome―an investigation that is producing fascinating discoveries and bringing answers to parents who want to do the best for their young children. Dirt Is Good is a comprehensive, authoritative, accessible guide you've been searching for. |