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COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT
www.fbbva.es
Lecture series “Can Medicine Be Predictive?”
PRESS RELEASE
Paul O’Toole talks about the health
benefits of the “forgotten organ” made
up of gut bacteria

The scientist will talk this evening (19:30) on “Healthy Aging: The Role of Diet and Gut
Bacteria” in the BBVA Foundation’s Bilbao headquarters.

His main topic will be the “forgotten organ” – the huge host of microorganisms populating
the human gut, which harbors 10 times more bacterial than human cells.

Professor O’Toole is a professor in the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre and the Department
of Microbial Genomics at University College Cork (Ireland).
Bilbao, April 16, 2013.- Irish scientist Paul O’Toole, Professor of Microbial Genomics and Senior
Lecturer in Microbiology at University College Cork (Ireland) will deliver a lecture titled “Healthy
Aging: The Role of Diet and Gut Bacteria” at 19:30 this evening in the BBVA Foundation’s Bilbao
headquarters (Plaza San Nicolás, 4).
Professor O’Toole’s talk forms part of the part of the 8th lecture series organized by the BBVA
Foundation and CIC bioGUNE with support from the Biophysics Unit (CSIC-University of the Basque
Country) and the British Council. The present edition takes as its title “Can Medicine Be Predictive?”
The lecture will have free entry subject to availability, and will be followed by a discussion session
moderated by CIC bioGUNE researcher Ana María Aransay, during which questions will be taken
from the floor.
The role of diet and gastrointestinal bacteria
As we get older, the extent to which our health deteriorates depends on a combination of factors.
One of these is the microbiome, or the collection of microbes that inhabit our gut, which is
controlled in turn by our dietary intake. According to recent studies, this ecosystem directly affects
a wide range of bodily functions.
Scientists are finding more and more proof that alterations in the composition of the gut microbiota
are linked to a series of health disorders to do, primarily, with obesity, food energy, changes in
defense mechanisms and the immune system, and inflammatory processes.
For what we eat is not just about nutritional value, whose health importance is beyond doubt. Our
diet also controls the activity of the microbes living in our digestive system, a bacterial colony which
O’Toole calls the “forgotten organ.” The human intestine, we may be surprised to know, contains
between 10 and 100 trillion microbes, i.e., ten times more bacterial than human cells.
O’Toole’s group is striving to understand what health benefits can be obtained, especially for the
elderly, by controlling the bacterial species in the gut; for instance, through a change of diet. As
people age, it appears that the health-giving properties of gut bacteria become progressively
weaker, and the immune system begins to fail.
According to CIC bioGUNE researcher Ana María Aransay, “thanks to these studies. It will soon be
possible to predict the state of a person’s gut from a description of the changes in their intestinal
flora, and to restore the balance between the microbiome and human digestive system by
modifying that person’s diet.”
Paul O’Toole bio notes
Professor O’Toole’s research and teaching career has taken him to Sweden, Canada, New
Zealand and the United States. Currently a professor in the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre and in
the Department of Microbial Genomics at University College Cork (UCC), in Ireland, he has
authored numerous book chapters and reviews, and over 110 papers in high-impact international
journals, as well as having three patents to his name.
In collaboration with colleagues at UCC and the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Research Centre, his
group are using functional genomics to identify genes and proteins which contribute to the
probiotic effect exerted by certain bacteria (influencing gut flora composition with positive effects
on health). To this end, they have sequenced the genome of a strain of Lactobacillus salivarius to
examine how its proteins interact with host tissue cells.
In parallel, Professor O’Toole is one of the few scientists in the world exploring the interactions
between the proteins of Helicobacter pylori (cause of the most common type of gastric ulcer) and
intestinal cells using techniques drawn form molecular genetics, biochemistry and structural biology
(X-ray crystallography). These comparative and functional genomic studies will hopefully provide
new insights into the molecular pathogenesis of human gastric disease.
For further information, contact the BBVA Foundation Communication Department (+34 91 374
5210/+34 91 537 3769 or [email protected]) or visit www.fbbva.es