In this episode of the MGC podcast, I talk to Dr. Gloria Dominguez, a world-renowned microbiome expert who has studied the pre- and postnatal influences on the developing gut microbiome, and the implications of this early development for health and disease.  

Dr. Dominguez is the Henry Rutgers Professor of Microbiome and Health at Rutgers University. She is the Director of the Institute for Food Nutrition and Health and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, and of the Infectious Disease Society of America.   

Her work centers and impacts exerted on the microbiome by urban practices, including practices that impair early life microbiota transmission and colonization -such as C-sections- and studying changes on microbiomes across urbanization gradients.   

Together with her husband Martin Blaser, she stars in the new, award winning documentary The Invisible Extinction, which is streaming on Amazon.  

In this podcast I talk to Dr. Dominguez about several fascinating topics, including: 

• The effect of mode of delivery on infant microbiome and health 

• Maternal-child microbial seeding interventions. 

• Early-life microbiome restoration 

• Influence of maternal diet on offspring 

• Gut microbiome and COVID-19

• The Microbiome Vault project  

Rather listen to this episode? Check it out here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ah30Mu8XN4Q

Follow Dr. Mayer here: https://linktr.ee/emayer