Discussion: Gut Instinct - Friday, October 23rd
Microcosmos: the wellspring of evolutionary change
This session will explore the heterogeneity, similarities, causes, and effects of the soil/root microbiome and the human gut microbiome, and the effect of their relationships on the environment and human health.
Special Feature: Meeting Ground by Susan Main & MJ Neuberger
We can’t physically connect the way we might like to at the moment but can we take a moment to embrace what we share in common?
Meeting Ground, a set of collaborations that considers the earth beneath our feet and the confluence of art, science and spirituality, invites you to join us as we touch the ground during this period of seasonal change and seismic cultural shift.
Collaborators across the country have been meeting the ground with the common intention of bringing our bodies into healing balance with the earth mother body as we transition through autumn.
We invite you to join us, in whatever way you can ground yourself, whether it’s touching the earth itself, the arm of a loved one, or something that connects your senses to either and share your experience.
Speakers:
Dr. Donata Vercelli, MD. Donata Vercelli is a Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Arizona, the Associate Director of the Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center and the Director of the Arizona Center for the Biology of Complex Diseases (ABCD). Dr. Vercelli received her MD degree from the University of Florence (1978), where she also trained in Hematology and Immunology/Allergy. In 1986, she joined the Division of Immunology at Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School and in 1991 she became an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. In 1999, she joined the Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center at the University of Arizona.
Dr. Vercelli’s research seeks to elucidate the impact of environment, genes and development on the pathogenesis of complex diseases. To this end, her laboratory has developed powerful mouse and human models of asthma-protective environmental exposures, particularly those associated with traditional farming. For this work, Dr. Vercelli was named a co-recipient of the 2017 Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Award and the Herbert Pardes Clinical Research Excellence Award, both from the Clinical Research Forum. In 2018 she was elected the first female Secretary General of the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum. In 2019 she was awarded the Rebecca Buckley Lectureship from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the Henry and Phyllis Koffler Prize in Research/Scholarship/Creative Activity from the University of Arizona. In 2020 she was the Eva M. Holtby Endowed Keynote Speaker at the Arthritis Center Conference on Microbiome at the University of Arizona.
Topic: La' ci darem la mano: How soil and gut microbiota interact to promote health or disease
Time: 2:15 - 2:35 pm EST (New York City)
Dr. Mariya Korneykova, Head of Laboratory Ecology of Microorganisms, Institute of North Industrial Ecology Problems, Apatity, Murmansk region, Russia, Researcher RUDN University Moscow, Russia
Topic: TBA
Time: 2:40 - 2:50 pm EST (New York City)
Leanne Wijnsma, Yeast.computer is an Amsterdam based studio founded by Leanne Wijnsma, designing for and with the earth’s immune system. The immersive nature of her work reflects on the human condition in the 21st century, investigating the impact of new technologies on individual and collective behavior. Leanne Wijnsma will present Soilbread, a sourdough bread containing soil. Soilbread is a research into the contradiction between social stigma and nutritional dependency of soil. It intends to reframe the attitude towards terra firma by using it as the main ingredient to bake bread, one of the oldest human made foods.http://www.leannewijnsma.nl/
Topic: Soilbread
Time: 2:55 - 3:05 pm EST (New York City)
Dr. Abdourahamane Tankari Dan-Badjo, Université Abdou Moumouni de Niamey | UAM · Science du Sol, Docteur en Sciences Agronomiques Teacher - researcher at Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey, Niger.
Topic: Impact of gold mining on soil pollution in Komabangou areas, Niger
Time: 3:10 - 3:25 pm EST (New York City)
Sandor Elix Katz, is a fermentation revivalist. His books Wild Fermentation and the Art of Fermentation, along with the hundreds of fermentation workshops he has taught around the world, have helped to catalyze a broad revival of the fermentation arts. A self-taught experimentalist who lives in rural Tennessee, the New York Times calls him “one of the unlikely rock stars of the American food scene.” Sandor is the recipient of a James Beard award and other honors. For more information, check out his website, wildfermentation.com.
Topic: Fermentation for Gut Health, Soil Health, and Social Change
Time: 3:30 - 3:40 pm EST (New York City)
Kate Douglas, writer, director and performer currently based in upstate NY. Her work has been performed at The Met Cloisters, Ars Nova, Joe’s Pub and The McKittrick Hotel and developed at venues such as SPACE on Ryder Farm, The Orchard Project, New Victory Theater and The Civilians R&D Group. She is a Dramatists Guild Fellow and a current member of The Orchard Project Greenhouse. As a complement to her artistic practice, she is a Master Naturalist, student herbalist and Citizen Tree Pruner in Training. She is currently working towards her Horticulture Certificate Sustainable Garden Design with the New York Botanical Garden. www.kate-douglas.com
Topic: Meditation on Rot
Time: 4:20 - 4:35 pm EST (New York City) - Performance during Coffee Break
Dr. Theodore Muth, is an associate professor in the Biology Department. My lab's research studies the microbial communities of urban soils and green infrastructure. A fundamental question driving our research is how humans impact urban microbial communities, and in what ways does the intensity of human activity influence the composition of these bacterial communities? Importantly, we wonder how bacterial diversity is impacted, and how this influences the critical nutrient and geochemical cycles that soil and water bacterial communities are known to contribute to in less disturbed environments? With increasing urbanization at a global level, sustainable use and management of urban soils is needed in order to maximize the ecosystem services these soils are able to provide. We analyze urban microbial communities using metagenomic approaches coupled with next generation DNA sequencing. ”
Topic: Science for All, One Microbiome at a Time: Student-Driven Characterization of the Urban Microbiome
Time: 4:35 - 4:45 pm EST (New York City)
Dr. Christine Marizzi, Christine Marizzi is an award-winning scientist and educator and graduated from the University of Vienna with a Ph.D. degree in microbiology and genetics for investigating unique stem-cell mutant of the plant model Arabidopsis thaliana. She then co-developed and led the Urban Barcode Project at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s DNA Learning Center in New York. Her current position is Chief Scientist at BioBus, Inc. With 13+ years in international science education, she dedicates her time, energy and intellect to help students realize their greatest potential in STEM fields and provides traditionally under-represented minorities with multiple entry points to academic and professional careers in STEM disciplines. Her deep interest in biological systems and data visualization also led to several critically acclaimed projects at the intersection between technology, art, and science with a wide range of collaborators. Resulting artworks were exhibited widely, including the Architecture Biennale Venice (Italy), Vienna Science Festival (Austria), Aspen Ideas Festival (USA), the American Society for Microbiology (USA), United Nations General Assembly 74 (USA), St. Francis College New York (USA), and the School of Visual Arts New York (USA).
Topic: From the Laboratory to the Studio - Artistic Endeavors in Community Science
Time: 4:50 - 5:00 pm EST (New York City)
Lisa Orr, For 30 years Lisa Orr has been a professional potter and student of ceramics. She completed an MFA at the NYSCC at Alfred University in 1992 and later received grants including a Fulbright and a MAAA/NEA. Her work is in numerous public and private collections including the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, and the permanent collection of WOCEF in Korea. Currently she teaches, lectures and shows nationally and internationally
Topic: Edible Beneficial-- Nourishing Interchanges with Soil
Time: 5:05 - 5:15 pm EST (New York City)
Moderator: Alonso Cordoba, Adjunct Professor of Biology, CUNY - Brooklyn College
Format
2 - 3:35 pm: Introduction & Presentations 1
3:35 - 4:05 pm: Discussion Session 1
4:05 - 4:20 pm: Break, with Meet the Ground, by Susan Main and MJ Neuberger
4:25 - 5:15 pm: Presentations 2
5:20 - 6 pm: Discussion Session 2
All Times Eastern Standard Time (New York City)