Science for All Seasons: Guts and bugs in health and disease

Our bodies are host to trillions of microorganisms, many of which reside in our digestive system. This tiny population, known as the gut microbiome, mostly functions to aid digestion or repress the growth of harmful bacteria. But imbalances in these same bacterial species have also been linked to inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, and even cancer. In his Science for All Seasons lecture in November 2013, Broad senior associate member and renowned gastroenterologist Ramnik Xavier discussed the link between the gut microbiome and our health.