Events

Join us on June 14 & 15, 2021, for this exciting two-day microbiome symposium that will highlight the latest microbiome research from across Canada and Internationally.

All that in the middle of the inspiring Rocky Mountains

Media

TUNE IN!

Dr. McCoy speaks about her recent study showing the role of inosine, a bacterial metabolite in response to cancer immunotherapies. Discover more in this Friday Science podcast (Twitter: @scifri)!

Should we call ourself Human or Super-organism ?

Learn about the hidden connection between our lifestyle, and our microbes with Dr. McCoy in this Gut Talk on the Human Microbiome from January 16, 2020.

November 28, 2019

In this article from the University of Calgary, Dr. McCoy gives her views on the key roles our microbes plays into shaping our Health. February 18, 2017.

Live tweets

Hurray !

Congratulation to our talented Master student Noah Cooke for being awarded a CIHR Canada Graduate Scholarship. Well done!

Our latest publications !

In this study, the authors identified microbial D-lactate, as a modulator of an intravascular immune firewall that protects against the spread of bacterial infections via the bloodstream.
Using an interdisciplinary approach, the authors identified three bacterial species that significantly enhanced the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in four mouse models of cancer! This promising study" identifies a novel microbial metabolite-immune pathway that may be exploited to develop microbial-based adjuvant therapies."
In this intercontinental research effort between Switzerland, Norway, Germany and Canada, Dr. H. Li, colleagues and international collaborators notably Dr. K.D. McCoy, used “localized time-limited exposures of defined doses of single benign microbial taxa in germ-free mice” to “address how the B cell repertoire is shaped by microbiota exposure at mucous membranes or in systemic lymphoid tissues, and how interactions between different exposure sites or subsequent exposures to different taxa affect the outcome”.
Using a mouse model of spontaneous autoimmune myocarditis, we show that progression of myocarditis to lethal heart disease depends on cardiac myosin–specific TH17 cells imprinted in the intestine by a commensal Bacteroides species peptide mimic ...The ability to restrain cardiotoxic T cells through manipulation of the microbiome thereby transforms inflammatory cardiomyopathy into a targetable disease.
Here we report that mice colonized with a combination of bacterial species with specific characteristics is required to inhibit IgE levels... inhibition of IgE induction can be mediated by specific microbes and their associated metabolic pathways and immunogenic properties.
Here we report that mice colonized with a combination of bacterial species with specific characteristics is required to inhibit IgE levels... inhibition of IgE induction can be mediated by specific microbes and their associated metabolic pathways and immunogenic properties.
Through effects on early-life colonization, immune development, and neurodevelopment, the maternal microbiota regulates susceptibility to a number of childhood illnesses and can vertically transmit dysbiosis-mediated pathologies.
Appropriate priming of tolerogenic or effector immune responses is crucial for intestinal homeostasis. Esterhazy et al. (Nature, 2019) reveal how compartmentalization of lymphatic drainage to functionally distinct lymph nodes facilitates the simultaneous induction of tolerogenic and effector responses.
The microbiota plays an important role in regulating both the innate and adaptive immune systems. This review highlight the role of the microbiota in the induction of immune memory with a focus on both adaptive and innate memory as well as vaccine efficacy.

Never stop learning ! See all our publications here

Kathy is live - videos

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Past events

Come to learn about your gut microbes!

From birth through life, they shape our immune system playing a key role in our health but what about the health of our microbiome ? There is evidence to suggest that there are general practices we can all follow to maintain a healthy microbiome.

Monday Oct, 28th, 2019 - 6:30-8:00pm at Calgary New Central Library - Register here !